Biomolecular Diagnostic Laboratory, ITQB/IBET, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Av. da República, Apt 12, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal.
Vet Parasitol. 2010 Dec 15;174(3-4):199-205. doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.08.038. Epub 2010 Oct 30.
Babesiosis and Theileriosis are tick-borne diseases widespread in tropical and sub-tropical regions with high economic impact worldwide. In Portugal there are at least 4 tick vectors known to be competent for the transmission of Babesia and Theileria sp. identified: Rhipicephalus bursa, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus, Ixodes ricinus and Haemaphysalis punctata. All these potential Babesia and Theileria tick vectors are widely distributed in Portugal, although they are predominant in the Southern region. In this study, 1104 cattle blood samples were randomly collected from Central and Southern regions of Portugal and analyzed by PCR-reverse line blotting (RLB) for the detection of Babesia and Theileria sp. Testing indicated that 74.7% of the bovines tested were positive for either Babesia and/or Theileria sp. In addition, five different apicomplexan species, namely, Theileria buffeli, Theileria annulata, Babesia divergens, Babesia bovis, and Babesia bigemina were detected by RLB among the bovines tested. T. buffeli was the most frequently found species, being present in 69.9% of the positive samples either as single infections (52.4%), or as mixed infections (17.5%). The Babesia specie most frequently found was B. divergens, detected in 4.2% of the infected bovines. Overall, infected bovines were found in all regions tested; however the highest number of infected bovines was observed in Évora district (96.2%) and in cattle from Limousin breeds (81.7%). The results indicate widespread Babesia and Theileria infections in Portuguese bovines, suggesting the need for improved control of ticks and tick-borne diseases.
巴贝斯虫病和泰勒虫病是广泛流行于热带和亚热带地区的蜱传疾病，对全球经济造成重大影响。在葡萄牙，至少有 4 种已知的蜱虫载体被认为有能力传播巴贝斯虫和泰勒虫，包括：钝缘蜱、环形泰勒虫、蓖子硬蜱和血红扇头蜱。所有这些潜在的巴贝斯虫和泰勒虫的蜱虫载体在葡萄牙广泛分布，尽管它们在南部地区更为普遍。在这项研究中，从葡萄牙中部和南部地区随机采集了 1104 份牛血样本，并通过 PCR-反向线印迹（RLB）检测进行了巴贝斯虫和泰勒虫的检测。检测结果表明，74.7%的牛检测呈阳性，要么是巴贝斯虫和/或泰勒虫阳性。此外，在检测的牛中，通过 RLB 检测到了五种不同的顶复门寄生虫，分别是：泰勒虫、环形泰勒虫、分歧巴贝斯虫、牛巴贝斯虫和双芽巴贝斯虫。泰勒虫是最常见的物种，在 69.9%的阳性样本中存在，要么是单一感染（52.4%），要么是混合感染（17.5%）。最常见的巴贝斯虫是分歧巴贝斯虫，在 4.2%的感染牛中检测到。总体而言，在所有检测的地区都发现了感染的牛，但感染牛数量最多的是埃武拉区（96.2%）和利穆赞品种的牛（81.7%）。结果表明，葡萄牙牛中普遍存在巴贝斯虫和泰勒虫感染，这表明需要加强对蜱虫和蜱传疾病的控制。
