First detection of anti- Besnoitia spp. specific antibodies in horses and donkeys in Italy

Abstract

Among Apicomplexa protozoa infecting equids, Besnoitia spp., Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora spp. represent important issues from a sanitary and zootechnical viewpoint. However, only scarce epidemiological data are available on the spread of the infections in horses and donkeys in Europe. Therefore, a serosurvey was planned to estimate the prevalence of these Sarcocystidae species in Italian equids. Serum samples from 268 horses and 18 donkeys raised in Italy were collected and serologically analyzed to detect anti-Besnoitia spp., anti-T. gondii and anti-Neospora spp. antibodies: an approach based on an initial screening by in-house ELISA followed by a confirmatory WB was used. Two horses (0.7%) and four donkeys (22.2%), showed antibodies anti-Besnoitia spp. Ten horses (3.7%) resulted positive to T. gondii and one of these (0.4%) was seropositive also to Neospora spp. This is the first detection of anti-Besnoitia spp. specific antibodies in Italian horses and donkeys. The study confirmed the circulation of Besnoitia spp. among equids in Europe. Low prevalence of T. gondii and Neospora spp. in horses raised in Italy was reported. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy to consider that consumption of horse meat could represent a source for human toxoplasmosis.

Toxoplasma gondii in naturally infected goats: Monitoring of specific IgG levels in serum and milk during lactation and parasitic DNA detection in milk

“…1 Toxoplasma gondii infection is a sanitary issue having a high economic impact on goat farming; particularly in the study area, Northern Italy where high seroprevalence rates were recorded in small ruminant farms, with 41.7 and 59.3% seropositive goats and sheep, respectively (Gazzonis et al, 2015). In addition, as a proof of the high environmental spread of the pathogen, in the same study area, T. gondii showed to be widely spread also in other domestic (Gazzonis et al, 2015;Gazzonis et al, , 2018b;Villa et al, 2018) and wild animals (Gazzonis et al, 2018c, d), with values varying according to investigated host species and on considered farming conditions.…”

Detecting antibodies to Leishmania infantum in horses from areas with different epizooticity levels of canine leishmaniosis and a retrospective revision of Italian data

“…The difference in seroprevalence values between horses, especially sporting horses, and donkeys can be attributed to the differences in their management. In fact, donkeys are more often kept outside compared to sporting horses, which are managed indoors, as already suggested for other protozoans that affect equids [33][34][35][36]. In addition, although not yet demonstrated, horses may have a greater susceptibility to infection, or alternatively donkeys may have a more efficient response of the immune system to the antigenic stimulus.…”

First record of besnoitiosis caused by Besnoitia bennetti in donkeys from the UK

“…These methods were designed to detect specific Besnoitia ribosomal DNA in tissue biopsies using PCR followed by DNA sequencing of the amplicon to identify the species [2,4,5] or measure the level of anti-Besnoitia spp. specific antibodies in the serum using serological assays such as ELISA, immunofluorescent and immunoblotting analysis [4][5][6][7][8][9]. Recently, a more specific genotyping method based on microsatellite markers has been developed to distinguish B. bennetti from the closely related B. besnoiti and B. tarandi, which cause besnoitiosis in cattle and reindeer, respectively [10].…”

“…Besnoitiosis in donkeys went from a rarely detected parasite to being reported in donkeys in many countries, including the USA [2,4,7], Spain, [8], Belgium [5], Italy [9] and Portugal [11]. This increase in the number of reports of B. bennetti infection in donkeys and other equids is probably attributed to the increasing awareness of the disease [12].…”