Babesia bicornis sp. nov. and Theileria bicornis sp. nov.: Tick-Borne Parasites Associated with Mortality in the Black Rhinoceros ( Diceros bicornis )

Abstract

A novel Babesia species, designated Babesia bicornis sp. nov., was identified in three black rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis) that died in wildlife areas in Tanzania and South Africa. Screening of black rhinoceroses in South Africa revealed, in addition to B. bicornis, a second parasite, designated Theileria bicornis sp. nov. CASE REPORT

Tick-borne blood parasites in nyala (Tragelaphus angasii, Gray 1849) from KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

“…Theileria bicornis, carried by 52.6% nyalas in this survey, was originally described from healthy black rhinoceroses in South Africa and is not known to be pathogenic (Nijhof et al 2003). Theileria bicornis was also described in 36.4% of white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) from the Kruger National Park and in 3.8% of cattle tested in Uganda (Govender 2009, Muhanguzi et al 2010.…”

“…High seroprevalence of Anaplasma species, ranging from 75 to 100%, was found in wildlife at the livestock-wildlife interface in Kenya (Ngeranwa et al 2008). Species examined were eland, blue wildebeest, kongoni (Damaliscus (Nijhof et al 2003;Nijhof et al 2005;Oosthuizen et al 2008;Oosthuizen et al 2009). …”

“…Nyala naturally carry large tick burdens (Horak et al 1983;Horak et al 1995) and many haemoparasites are tick-transmitted, therefore it was likely that nyala were infected. High losses of nyala after translocation are not uncommon and haemoparasites, together with translocation stress, could potentially be the cause for these losses as was possibly the case in greater kudu (Nijhof et al 2005) and black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) (Nijhof et al 2003).…”

Investigating the diversity of the 18S SSU rRNA hyper-variable region of Theileria in cattle and Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer) from southern Africa using a next generation sequencing approach

“…The reverse line blot (RLB) method (Gubbels et al 1999), based on simultaneous detection of the 18S rRNA gene for various Babesia and Theileria species, has been extensively used for surveillance purposes (Georges et al 2001; Almerìa et al 2002;Oura et al 2004;Nijhof et al 2003Nijhof et al , 2005Altay et al 2007;M'ghirbi et al 2008;Altay et al 2008;Matjila et al 2008;Oosthuizen et al 2008; Almerìa et al 2009;Salih et al 2010;Yusufmia et al 2010; Tomassone et al 2012;Ceci et al 2014;Githaka et al 2014;Eygelaar et al 2015;Njiiri et al 2015). The method relies on the amplification of the V4 hypervariable region of the 18S rRNA gene, followed by hybridization to probes for various The current study aimed to assess whether other genotypes may be amplified by the primers used in these assays, since it was shown that multiple templates may affect sensitivity of the diagnostic assays (Pienaar et al 2011a).…”

Identification of novel Babesia and Theileria species in South African giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis, Linnaeus, 1758) and roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus, Desmarest 1804)

“…Theileria taurotragi infection has been reported to be fatal in eland (Taurotragus oryx), although infections in cattle are usually subclinical and not readily detected (Grootenhuis et al, 1979 andGrootenhuis et al, 1980). Babesia bicornis was identified in four fatal cases of babesiosis in black rhinoceros (Diceros bicornis) in South Africa and Tanzania (Nijhof et al, 2003). Three of the four rhinoceros died soon after capture, during periods of nutritional or pregnancy-related stress, or during extreme climatic conditions.…”