Ovine Theileriosis: Clinical, Pathological and Molecular Investigations

Abstract

Ovine theileriosis is a hemoprotazoan infection transmitted by tick bites which cause severe economic loss. This study aimed to survey Theileria infection of sheep in different localities of Egypt (Cairo, Giza and Al Monofia) by using microscopic and molecular detection associated with clinicopathological and pathological investigations. A total of 152 sheep blood samples were selected from farms and veterinary clinics. Microscopic examination of blood smears revealed that the incidence of Theileria infection was 21.7% while the incidence was 36.8% using PCR assay (universal Theileria spp. Primer). The use of species-specific primers showed a result of 53.6% single infection; Theileria ovis, and 46.4% mixed infection; T. ovis and Theileria lestoquardi. According to the results of PCR, animals were divided into 3 groups: Theileria negative group, T. ovis group and mixed T. ovis and T. lestoquardi group. The examination of both infected groups revealed non-significant changes between them. The hemogram revealed significant macrocytic hypochromic anemia, leukopenia, neutropenia, lymphopenia, monocytopenia, eosinopenia and thrombocytopenia in Theileria infected groups compared with Theileria negative group. Biochemical analysis revealed significant hypoproteinemia, hypoalbuminemia, total and indirect hyperbilirubinemia with elevations of AST and GGT activities with increase in concentration of BUN and creatinine while no significant changes in A:G ratio values and direct bilirubin concentration in Theileria infected groups compared with Theileria negative group. The pathological investigation revealed lymphocytic depletion and necrosis with hemorrhages in lymph node and spleen. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were performed by targeting the 18S rRNA gene of Theileria spp. In conclusion, according to our knowledge, this is the first report of phylogeny of T. lestoquardi infected sheep in Egypt.

Tick-borne diseases in Egypt: A one health perspective

“… Cattle, humans, rodents ND Cairo, Menofia, Qena, Sinai [ [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] ] Hepatozoonosis Hepatozoon canis Dogs ND Cairo, Giza [ 63 , 64 ] Hepatozoon sp. Rodents ND Sinai [ 62 ] Theileriosis Theileria annulata Buffaloes, camels, cattle, sheep Hyalomma dromedarii, Hyalomma excavatum Aswan, Beheira, Benisuef, Dakahlia, Elminia, Fayoum, Giza, Menofia, New valley, Port Said, Qena, Qualyobia, Sharkia, Sohag [ 33 , 36 , [70] , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] , 43 , 46 , 47 , [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] ] Theileria ovis Buffaloes, camel, cattle, equines, goats, sheep ND Aswan, Beheira, Benisuef, Cairo, Giza, Menofia, New valley, Qualyobia, Sinai [ 46 , 49 , 66 , 70 , 72 , [75] , [76] , [77] ] Theileria equi Donkey, horses, mules Rhipicephalus annulatus Alexandria, Benisuef, Cairo, Fayoum, Giza, Ismailia, Matrouh, Menofia [ 51 , …”

Phylogenetic study of theileria ovis and theileria lestoquardi in infected sheep and it is associated ticks in mosul city, Iraq

“…The The results of the phylogenetic tree of the local sequences of T. ovis was showed that it possesses common phylogenetic characteristics and a high evolutionary relationship with the sequences of T. ovis recorded in the NCBI GenBank for different countries including Pakistan and India, with the 100% Identity, after performing 100 nucleotide sequence reconstructing using Bootstrap analysis (Abid et al, 2021;Eliwa et al, 2021;Niaz et al, 2021). In addition, results of the phylogenetic tree of the local sequences of T. lestoquardi was also showed that it possesses common phylogenetic characteristics and a high evolutionary relationship with the sequences of T. lestoquardi recorded in the NCBI GenBank.…”

“…using c-PCR technique. This result is higher to the prevalence has been reported in other studies such as: in Mosul city and Basrah province, Iraq it was 0.03%, 17.5% in sheep using microscopic examination of stained blood smears respectively (Abood et al, 2005;Abdullah et al, 2019), in Kurdistan areas, Iraq it was 13.43% and 17.91% in sheep using microscopic examination and PCR techniques respectively (Hassen and Meerkhan, 2020), in Iran, Turkey, Sudan, and Pakistan it was 47.27%, 7%, 12.9%, and 24.6% respectively using PCR techniques (Khezri et al, 2016;Riaz and Tasawar, 2017;Lee et al, 2018;Benedicto et al, 2020), and in Egypt it was 21.7% using microscopic examination method (Eliwa et al, 2021). The reasons for the variance in the prevalence of Theileria spp.…”

“…In addition, results of the phylogenetic tree of the local sequences of T. lestoquardi was also showed that it possesses common phylogenetic characteristics and a high evolutionary relationship with the sequences of T. lestoquardi recorded in the NCBI GenBank. for different countries, including Sulaymaniyah governorate, Iraq and Kurdistan regions, Iraq and Italy, with the 100% Identity, after performing 100 nucleotide sequence reconstructing using Bootstrap analysis (Abdullah and Ali, 2021;Eliwa et al, 2021).…”

“…Furthermore, OT in small ruminants causes a high morbidity rate reach to 100%, with a mortality rate of more than 46% (Tageldin et al, 2005;El Imam et al, 2015). There are several genes used for molecular detection of the T. ovis and T. lestoquardi such as Major merozoite piroplasm surface antigen (MMPSA) gene (Esmaelizad et al, 2011), 16S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (16S rRNA) gene (Ismael and Omer, 2020), 12S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (12S rRNA) gene (Azmi et al, 2019), small subunit ribosomal RNA (SSU rRNA) gene (Benedicto et al, 2020;Ceylan et al, 2021), and the more common gene is 18S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (18S rRNA) (Eliwa et al, 2021;Metwally et al, 2021). Ovine theileriosis can be diagnosed based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay, it is an important technology in epidemiological and phylogenetic studies of Theileria spp.…”