<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Equine theileriosis, an apicomplexan debilitating tick-borne parasitic disease of horses has caused considerable havoc to equine production all over the world. There is a dearth of information on the molecular characteristic of the parasites, <italic>Theileria equi</italic> Laveran, 1901, in Nigeria. Thus, in this study microscopy techniques and PCR were used to detect the <italic>T. equi</italic> of horses in Ogun, Oyo and Lagos States of Nigeria. We also characterized the partial region of 18S ribosomal RNA gene by sequencing and sequences analysis. One hundred and two horses consisting of Argentine 34 (33.3 %), Sudanese 21 (20.6 %) and local breeds 47 (46.1 %) including 2 females and 100 males were randomly sampled from the Polo Clubs in Ibadan, Lagos and from privately owned horse stables in Abeokuta. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein, thin smears were prepared and stained with a field stain. The DNA was extracted from the blood and a partial region of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene was amplified. The amplified products were sequenced unidirectionally and subjected to phylogenetic analysis with those sequences obtained from the Gen-Bank. Of the 102 horses tested, 12 (11.7 %) were positive for <italic>T. equi</italic> by microscopy which included 9 (19.1 %) local breeds, 2 (5.8 %) Argentine breed and 1 (4.8 %) Sudanese breed. In contrast, 7 (6.8 %) were positive by the PCR method; out of which 5 (10.6 %) of these samples were from the local breed of horses while the remaining 2 (5.8 %) were from the Argentine breed. The Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of the infected and non-infected horses did not show any significant (P &lt; 0.05) difference. The sequences lengths obtained were 311 bp and they had 97.43—98.07 % homologies with available sequences in the GenBank. The phylogenetic analysis of the sequences suggested that the strain of <italic>T. equi</italic> detected in the study area formed a new genotype different from the established genotypes around the world. In conclusion, the prevalence of <italic>T. equi</italic> was very low in the study area and one strain of the parasite may be in circulation among the studied horses.</p></abstract>

Equine theileriosis, an apicomplexan debilitating tick-borne parasitic disease of horses has caused considerable havoc to equine production all over the world. There is a dearth of information on the molecular characteristic of the parasites, Theileria equi Laveran, 1901, in Nigeria. Thus, in this study microscopy techniques and PCR were used to detect the T. equi of horses in Ogun, Oyo and Lagos States of Nigeria. We also characterized the partial region of 18S ribosomal RNA gene by sequencing and sequences analysis. One hundred and two horses consisting of Argentine 34 (33.3 %), Sudanese 21 (20.6 %) and local breeds 47 (46.1 %) including 2 females and 100 males were randomly sampled from the Polo Clubs in Ibadan, Lagos and from privately owned horse stables in Abeokuta. Blood samples were collected from the jugular vein, thin smears were prepared and stained with a field stain. The DNA was extracted from the blood and a partial region of the 18S ribosomal RNA gene was amplified. The amplified products were sequenced unidirectionally and subjected to phylogenetic analysis with those sequences obtained from the Gen-Bank. Of the 102 horses tested, 12 (11.7 %) were positive for T. equi by microscopy which included 9 (19.1 %) local breeds, 2 (5.8 %) Argentine breed and 1 (4.8 %) Sudanese breed. In contrast, 7 (6.8 %) were positive by the PCR method; out of which 5 (10.6 %) of these samples were from the local breed of horses while the remaining 2 (5.8 %) were from the Argentine breed. The Packed Cell Volume (PCV) of the infected and non-infected horses did not show any significant (P < 0.05) difference. The sequences lengths obtained were 311 bp and they had 97.43—98.07 % homologies with available sequences in the GenBank. The phylogenetic analysis of the sequences suggested that the strain of T. equi detected in the study area formed a new genotype different from the established genotypes around the world. In conclusion, the prevalence of T. equi was very low in the study area and one strain of the parasite may be in circulation among the studied horses.

Molecular Detection and Genetic Analysis of <italic>Theileria equi</italic> Detected in Apparently Healthy Horses in Nigeria

Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology

College of Veterinary Medicine Federal University of Agriculture

Department of Veterinary Parasitology and Entomology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Folia Veterinaria

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Molecular Detection and Genetic Analysis of  Detected in Apparently Healthy Horses in Nigeria

Equine theileriosis, an apicomplexan debilitating tick-borne parasitic disease of horses has caused considerable havoc to equine production all over the world....

Molecular Detection and Genetic Analysis of Theileria equi Detected in Apparently Healthy Horses in Nigeria

Published Online: Dec 21, 2020

Page range: 9 - 16

Received: Jul 06, 2020

Accepted: Sep 10, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fv-2020-0032

Keywords
equine theileriosis, horse, Nigeria, polymerase chain reaction,

© 2020 M. I. Takeet et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Molecular Detection and Genetic Analysis of Theileria equi Detected in Apparently Healthy Horses in Nigeria

Published Online: Dec 21, 2020

Page range: 9 - 16

Received: Jul 06, 2020

Accepted: Sep 10, 2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fv-2020-0032

Keywordsequine theileriosis, horse, Nigeria, polymerase chain reaction,

© 2020 M. I. Takeet et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
equine theileriosis, horse, Nigeria, polymerase chain reaction,