Prevalence of Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bovis, and Babesia bigemina in cattle in the Campos de Lages region, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, estimated by multiplex-PCR

Luisa Lemos Vieira; Mariana Feltrin Canever; Leonardo Leite Cardozo; Cristina Perito Cardoso; Marcos Edgar Herkenhoff; André Thaler Neto; Carla Ivane Ganz Vogel; Luiz Claudio Miletti

doi:10.1016/j.parepi.2019.e00114

Prevalence of Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bovis, and Babesia bigemina in cattle in the Campos de Lages region, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, estimated by multiplex-PCR

Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2019 Jul 31:6:e00114. doi: 10.1016/j.parepi.2019.e00114. eCollection 2019 Aug.

Authors

Luisa Lemos Vieira¹, Mariana Feltrin Canever¹, Leonardo Leite Cardozo², Cristina Perito Cardoso³, Marcos Edgar Herkenhoff⁴, André Thaler Neto², Carla Ivane Ganz Vogel¹, Luiz Claudio Miletti¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratório de Bioquímica de Hemoparasitas e Vetores (LABHEV), Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Avenida Luiz de Camões, n° 2090, Bairro Conta Dinheiro, 88520-000 Lages, SC, Brazil.
² Setor de Bovinocultura de Leite, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Avenida Luiz de Camões, n° 2090, Bairro Conta Dinheiro, 88520-000 Lages, SC, Brazil.
³ Companhia Integrada de Desenvolvimento Agrícola de Santa Catarina, Rua João José Godinho, s/n° Guadalupe, 88506-080 Lages, SC, Brazil.
⁴ Programa de Pós-graduação em Ciência Animal, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Brazil.

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the prevalence of three common hemoparasites (Anaplasma marginale, Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina) in cattle from 16 counties in the Campos de Lages region, Santa Catarina state, Brazil, and the factors affecting disease occurrence. The study population consisted of 257 clinically healthy animals from 21 rural farms. Bovine blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture. DNA was extracted from whole blood by the phenol/ chloroform method. Genomic DNA extracted from blood samples was subjected to Multiplex PCR for screening of B. bovis, B. bigemina, and A. marginale using specific primers. Prevalences of A. marginale, B. bigemina, and B. bovis were 27%, 16%, and 29%, respectively. Mixed infection was observed in 17.5% of samples. The most frequent was Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in 6.62% of samples. A. marginale infection rates were statistically correlated with age groups of cattle. The infections detected in the study population were considered to be subclinical, based on the presence pathogen DNA and absence of clinical symptoms. Seasonality of the pathogens resulted in various degrees of infection, related to the age of the animals and the season. The Campos de Lages region is characterized by enzootic instability for these pathogens because of its climatic and geographic features.

Keywords: Brazil; Enzootic instability; Multiplex PCR; Tick-borne disease.