Occurrence of Borrelia lusitaniae infection in horses

Fabrizia Veronesi; Fulvio Laus; Fabrizio Passamonti; Beniamino Tesei; Daniela Piergili Fioretti; Claudio Genchi

doi:10.1016/j.vetmic.2012.06.029

Occurrence of Borrelia lusitaniae infection in horses

Vet Microbiol. 2012 Dec 7;160(3-4):535-8. doi: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2012.06.029. Epub 2012 Jun 27.

Authors

Fabrizia Veronesi¹, Fulvio Laus, Fabrizio Passamonti, Beniamino Tesei, Daniela Piergili Fioretti, Claudio Genchi

Affiliation

¹ Department of Biopathological and Hygiene of Animal and Food Productions, Section of Parasitology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy. fabrizia.veronesi@unipg.it

PMID: 22789679
DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2012.06.029

Abstract

The aim of the study was to investigate Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.) infection in horses exposed to heavy tick infestations. Blood samples of 98 healthy horses from 5 stud farms were examined by SNAP(®) 4D× and PCR to detect antibodies against B. burgdorferi s.l. and Borrelia DNA, respectively. Ten samples (15.3%) were antibody positive and 5 samples (5.1%) were both antibody and PCR positive. Sequence analysis showed the highest homology with the B. lusitaniae genospecies. No differences were found between sexes and stud farms, while age was significantly related to seropositivity (p<0.05). Our data confirms the presence of B. lusitaniae infection in horses, previously not clearly demonstrated.

MeSH terms

Animals
Antibodies, Bacterial / blood
Borrelia / genetics
Borrelia / isolation & purification
Borrelia / physiology*
Borrelia burgdorferi / genetics
Cross-Sectional Studies
DNA, Bacterial / blood
Female
Horse Diseases / epidemiology*
Horse Diseases / microbiology*
Horses
Italy / epidemiology
Lyme Disease / epidemiology
Lyme Disease / microbiology
Lyme Disease / veterinary*
Male
Polymerase Chain Reaction / veterinary
Prevalence

Substances

Antibodies, Bacterial
DNA, Bacterial