title: A survey for piroplasmids in horses and Bactrian camels in North-Eastern Mongolia.
abstract: Equine piroplasmosis caused by Babesia caballi and Theileria equi is widespread in Asia. The presence of these haemozoans in Mongolia was previously confirmed in domestic as well as in reintroduced Przewalski horses in which they cause significant pathology. The data on occurrence of piroplasms from Bactrian camels in Asia is lacking. A total of 192 horses, 70 Bactrian camels, and additional 16 shepherd dogs from the Hentiy province were included in our study. No clinical signs typical for piroplasmid infection were observed during the field survey. Microscopic examination revealed the presence of T. equi in blood smears from 67% of examined horses, with camels and dogs being negative. A two step PCR approach was used to detect piroplasms in peripheral blood. In the first "catch all" PCR reaction, amplification of the 496 bp-long fragment of the SSU rRNA gene enabled the detection of Babesia and Theileria spp. Second round multiplex PCR reaction used for species discrimination allowed the amplification of T. equi- and B. caballi-specific 340 bp and 650 bp-long regions of the SSU rRNA, respectively. This assay detected T. equi in 92.7% of horses, while the infections with B. caballi and dual infections were rare. In both PCR setups, camels and dogs were negative indicating that in the studied region, these hosts do not share piroplasms with horses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Palackého 1-3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic. slobodam@vfu.cz
authors.forename: Michal
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sloboda
authors.forename: Milan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jirků
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lukešová
authors.forename: Moneeb
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qablan
authors.forename: Zayat
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Batsukh
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fiala
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hořín
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Modrý
authors.forename: Julius
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lukeš
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002162:Camelus; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D006734:Horse Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology*; D006736:Horses; D008297:Male; D008986:Mongolia / Q000453:epidemiology