1. Molecular analysis of tick-borne protozoan and rickettsial pathogens in small ruminants from two South African provinces.
- Author
-
Ringo AE, Adjou Moumouni PF, Taioe M, Jirapattharasate C, Liu M, Wang G, Gao Y, Guo H, Lee SH, Zheng W, Efstratiou A, Li J, Inoue N, Suzuki H, Thekisoe O, and Xuan X
- Subjects
- Anaplasma ovis genetics, Anaplasma ovis isolation & purification, Anaplasma ovis pathogenicity, Anaplasmosis blood, Anaplasmosis epidemiology, Animals, Asia epidemiology, Babesia genetics, Babesia isolation & purification, Babesia pathogenicity, Babesiosis blood, Babesiosis epidemiology, Coinfection epidemiology, Coinfection microbiology, Coinfection parasitology, Goats microbiology, Goats parasitology, Middle East epidemiology, Rickettsia genetics, Rickettsia isolation & purification, Rickettsia pathogenicity, Rickettsia Infections blood, Rickettsia Infections epidemiology, Rickettsia Infections microbiology, Sheep microbiology, Sheep parasitology, South Africa epidemiology, Theileria genetics, Theileria isolation & purification, Theileria pathogenicity, Theileriasis blood, Theileriasis epidemiology, Tick-Borne Diseases blood, Tick-Borne Diseases microbiology, Tick-Borne Diseases parasitology, Coinfection veterinary, Rickettsia Infections veterinary, Tick-Borne Diseases epidemiology, Ticks microbiology, Ticks parasitology
- Abstract
Tick-borne protozoan and rickettsial diseases are a major threat to livestock in tropical and sub-tropical regions of Africa. In this study we investigated the presence and distribution of Theileria spp., Babesia ovis, Anaplasma ovis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia ruminantium and SFG Rickettsia in sheep and goats from Free State and KwaZulu-Natal provinces. A total of 91 blood samples were screened in this study, 61 from goats and 30 from sheep. PCR assay was conducted using primers based on Theileria spp. 18S rRNA, Babesia ovis (BoSSU rRNA), Anaplasma ovis (AoMSP4), Anaplasma phagocytophilum epank1, Ehrlichia ruminantium pCS20 and SFG Rickettsia OmpA. Overall infection rates of Theileria spp., Anaplasma ovis and Ehrlichia ruminantium were 18 (19.8%), 33 (36.3%) and 13 (14.3%), respectively. The co-infection of two pathogens were detected in 17/91 (18.7%) of all samples, goats having higher rates of co-infection compared to sheep. Phylogenetic tree analysis sequence of pCS20 gene of E. ruminantium of this study was found to be in the same clade with Kumm2 and Riverside strains both from South Africa. The phylogram of SSU rRNA of Theileria ovis had longer branch length compared to all other sequences most of which were from Asia and Middle East. This study provides important data for understanding the tick-borne diseases occurrence in the study area and it is expected to improve the approach for the diagnosis and control of these diseases., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2018
- Full Text
- View/download PDF