Molecular detection and characterization of Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, Theileria species and Anaplasma marginale isolated from cattle in Kenya

Abstract

BackgroundInfections with Babesia bovis, Babesia bigemina, Theileria species and Anaplasma marginale are endemic in Kenya yet there is a lack of adequate information on their genotypes. This study established the genetic diversities of the above tick-borne hemoparasites infecting cattle in Kenya.MethodsNested PCR and sequencing were used to determine the prevalence and genetic diversity of the above parasites in 192 cattle blood samples collected from Ngong and Machakos farms. B. bovis spherical body protein 4, B. bigemina rhoptry-associated protein 1a, A. marginale major surface protein 5, Theileria spp. 18S rRNA, T. parva p104 and T. orientalis major piroplasm surface protein were used as the marker genes.ResultsB. bovis, B. bigemina, T. parva, T. velifera, T. taurotragi, T. mutans and A. marginale were prevalent in both farms, whereas T. ovis, Theileria sp. (buffalo) and T. orientalis were found only in Ngong farm. Co-infections were observed in more than 50 % of positive samples in both farms. Babesia parasites and A. marginale sequences were highly conserved while T. parva and T. orientalis were polymorphic. Cattle-derived T. parva was detected in Machakos farm. However, cattle and buffalo–derived Theileria were detected in Ngong farm suggesting interactions between cattle and wild buffaloes. Generally, the pathogens detected in Kenya were genetically related to the other African isolates but different from the isolates in other continents.ConclusionsThe current findings reaffirm the endemicity and co-infection of cattle with tick-borne hemoparasites, and the role of wildlife in pathogens transmission and population genetics in Kenya.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-015-1106-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Molecular survey and genetic characterization ofAnaplasma centrale,A. marginaleandA. bovisin cattle from Algeria

“…The overall infection rate with A. marginale described in our study was 11.1%. Several studies detecting A. marginale infection in cattle have been carried out in some regions from Africa with different rates such as in Tunisia (25.4%) (Belkahia et al., ); Morocco (21.9%) (Ait Hamou et al., ); Sudan (6.1%) (Awad et al., ); Egypt (3.7%) (Younis, Hegazy, El‐Deeb, & El‐Khatib, ); Madagascar (89.7%) (Pothmann et al., ); Nigeria (75.9%) (Elelu, Ferrolho, Couto, Domingos, & Eisler, ); Kenya (32.5%) (Adjou Moumouni et al., ); Angola (38%) (Kubelová, Mazancová, & Siroky, ); and Mozambique (67%) (Machado et al., ). This is the case also in Turkey (2.3%) (Aktas et al., ), Brazil (5.4%) (Silva et al., ), Pakistan (17%) (Ashraf et al., ) and Mongolia (8.7%) (Ybañez et al., ).…”

“…The relatively high co‐infection rate detected in this study highlights the potential difficulty in accurate microscopic diagnosis of anaplasmosis (Zhou et al., ). It may be also explained by the presence of a sympatric range of tick vector species (Adjou Moumouni et al., ). Roughly, half of the cattle (42.2%) were infected by at least one Anaplasma species.…”

Molecular evidence confirms occurrence of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus in Kenya and suggests that an undifferentiated genotype is prevalent in the African continent

“…Although R. microplus has only been recorded in a small focus along the Kenyan coastline, B. bovis DNA has recently been reported in cattle blood from Central and western Kenya. Based on B. bovis spherical body protein-4 (SBP-4) nested PCR ampli cation and subsequent sequencing of the amplicons, Moumouni et al, (2015) [18] detected B. bovis in 19 of 110 blood samples from a dairy cattle farm in Ngong area, Kajiado County, southwest of Nairobi. Another 9/25 blood samples from a farm in Machakos County Southeast of Nairobi were B. bovis-positive.…”

“…The use of sensitive and speci c molecular assays may increase and improve detection of tick-borne hemoparasites as indicated by the detection of B. bovis in Kenya [17,18]. Conventional PCR-based techniques have been used to detect Babesia parasites with high sensitivity and speci city [48][49][50][51].…”

“…Rhipicephalus microplus was rst recorded in Kenya in 1974 [15] and then later in 1998 [16] within a very limited area around Kwale County along the Kenyan Coast. However, more recently, B. bovis has been detected in cattle blood in Central and western Kenya [17,18], strongly suggesting the presence of its vector, R. microplus. In order to prevent the spread of B. bovis validated methods to identify R. microplus, are required, discriminating between this species and the endemic R. decoloratus and other Rhipicephalid ticks.…”