Molecular detection and characterization of Theileria annulata, Babesia bovis, and Babesia bigemina infecting cattle and buffalo in southern Egypt

Hassan Y A H Mahmoud; Abdelrahman A Rady; Tetsuya Tanaka

doi:10.1016/j.parepi.2024.e00340

Molecular detection and characterization of Theileria annulata, Babesia bovis, and Babesia bigemina infecting cattle and buffalo in southern Egypt

Parasite Epidemiol Control. 2024 Feb 1:25:e00340. doi: 10.1016/j.parepi.2024.e00340. eCollection 2024 May.

Authors

Hassan Y A H Mahmoud¹, Abdelrahman A Rady¹, Tetsuya Tanaka²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Animal Medicine Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, South Valley University, Qena 83523, Egypt.
² Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kagoshima University, Kagoshima 890-0065, Japan.

Abstract

Tick-borne diseases have a major adverse effect on livestock worldwide, causing enormous economic losses in meat and milk production as well threatening animal and public health. In this study, we aimed to detect and characterize piroplasms isolated from cattle and buffalo in southern Egypt, using molecular techniques. Three hundred blood samples were collected from cattle and buffalo in two governorates in southern Egypt. All 300 samples (100%) were confirmed to contain DNA, as they exhibited bands of bovine β-actin gene at the expected 227 bp for cattle and buffalo. The samples were analyzed by PCR for the presence of piroplasms, specifically Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, and Theileria annulata. Samples positive for the piroplasma 18S ribosomal RNA gene were further examined for two additional genes, spherical body protein 4 gene, to provide an enhanced degree of specificity for the identification of B. bovis and B. bigemina, and the major merozoite surface antigen gene for T. annulata. The infection rate for piroplasma spp. was 60/300 (20%). The positivity rates were 10.7% (32/300) for T. annulata, 5.3% (16/300) for B. bovis, and 4% (12/300) for B. bigemina. By host species, 42/150 (28%) cattle and 18/150 (12%) buffalo were positive for piroplasms. None of the isolates sequenced for the B. bovis isolates from buffalo in this study showed 100% identity with any sequence deposited in GenBank for the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (maximum identity value = 99.74%). Similarly, no T. annulata small subunit ribosomal RNA gene sequence identified in this study exhibited 100% identity with any sequence deposited in GenBank (maximum identity value = 99.89%). The current study provides a partial sequence of the T. annulata merozoite-piroplasm surface antigen gene, as well as the B. bovis and B. bigemina spherical body protein 4 genes, in cattle and buffalo in southern Egypt, and is the first report on these piroplasma genes in cattle and buffalo in southern Egypt.

Keywords: Babesia bigemina; Babesia bovis; Egypt; PCR; Theileria annulata.