Detection of Theileria and Babesia Species in Blood Samples Collected from Cattle in Southern Xinjiang, China.

PURPOSE: Bovine piroplasmosis is a highly prevalent tick-borne disease caused by Theileria spp. and Babesia spp., which inflicts significant losses on the beef and dairy cattle industries globally. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of bovine piroplasmosis in southern Xinjiang.

METHODS

A total of 595 blood samples were collected from 10 farms of southern Xinjiang in February of 2023. Various genetic markers combined with PCR were utilized to identify the species of piroplasms. Based on the sequenced data, a phylogenetic tree was constructed by using MEGA11.

RESULTS

The results indicated that 231 samples (38.82%) were positive for piroplasms, including 195 positive samples of Theileria annulata (32.77%), 33 positive samples of T. orientalis (5.55%), one positive sample of Babesia spp. (0.17%), and 2 positive samples of T. ovis (0.34%). Subsequently, a qPCR method was used to detect the distribution of buparvaquone-resistant strains of T. annulata. The results showed that 39.49% (77/195) of positive samples of T. annulata were detected to be resistant to buparvaquone. Three T. orientalis genotypes were identified: type 1 (Chitose), type 2 (Ikeda), and type 3 (Buffeli). The above results revealed that bovine piroplasmosis was widespread in this region, with the farm-level prevalence ranging from 24.2% to 50.5%.

CONCLUSION

This study confirms the prevalence of piroplasms in bovine blood samples from endemic regions of southern Xinjiang, and will provide scientific data for the prevention and control of bovine piroplasmosis, especially for T. annulata.