Ghafar Mohamed W, Amer Sayed A M
Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Cairo University, Egypt.
Department of Forensic Biology, College of Forensic Sciences, Naif Arab University for Security Sciences, Saudi Arabia.
Vet World. 2019;12(2):266-270. doi: 10.14202/vetworld.2019.266-270. Epub 2019 Feb 15.
causes human babesiosis in Europe where the parasite utilizes cattle as animal reservoir and as tick vector. Importation of infected animals and passive carriage of infected ticks through migratory birds can lead to tick/pathogen geographic expansion and emergence of diseases in naïve land. Given the information that Saudi Arabia imports cattle from the European countries and that two global bird flyways pass through the country geographic coordinates, we speculate that might be introduced into the Kingdom. Therefore, the aim of this preliminary study was to molecularly detect and characterize and other piroplasms (including spp.) in cattle from Taif district, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Blood samples from 20 cattle residing Taif district were collected, and polymerase chain reaction tested using wide and species-specific primers. Amplicons from a positive genus-wide reaction were purified, sequenced, and analyzed. Phylogenetic trees were constructed, and similarity to existing GenBank zoonotic piroplasms was also assessed.
All samples were negative for , and only one sample proved positive for in a wide reaction. Phylogeny clustered our strain with from Spanish dog and another one detected in a cow from France. BLAST analysis showed genetic distance from zoonotic piroplasms with identity ranged from 88% to 91%.
Although was not detected, we are not able to rule out or affirm the existence of the pathogen in the country. On the other hand, identifying strain with a southern European origin strongly supports our speculation that bovine zoonotic Babesia might be introduced into KSA. This study is not only the first molecular survey of but also the first report of the molecular identity of in Saudi Arabia. A national-wide bovine and tick surveillance are needed to further prove our speculation.
在欧洲引发人类巴贝斯虫病，该寄生虫以牛作为动物宿主，并以蜱作为传播媒介。感染动物的输入以及候鸟被动携带感染的蜱可导致蜱/病原体在地理上的扩张以及在未受感染地区出现疾病。鉴于沙特阿拉伯从欧洲国家进口牛，且两条全球鸟类迁徙路线经过该国地理区域，我们推测[病原体名称]可能被引入该国。因此，本初步研究的目的是对沙特阿拉伯王国塔伊夫地区牛群中的[病原体名称]及其他梨形虫（包括[相关种类]）进行分子检测和特征分析。
采集了来自塔伊夫地区的20头牛的血液样本，使用通用引物和种特异性引物进行聚合酶链反应检测。对全属阳性反应的扩增产物进行纯化、测序和分析。构建系统发育树，并评估与现有GenBank人畜共患梨形虫的相似性。
所有样本对[病原体名称]均为阴性，仅一个样本在通用反应中对[相关病原体]呈阳性。系统发育分析将我们的菌株与来自西班牙狗的[相关病原体]以及在法国一头牛中检测到的另一种[相关病原体]聚类在一起。BLAST分析显示与人畜共患梨形虫的遗传距离，同一性范围为88%至91%。
尽管未检测到[病原体名称]，但我们无法排除或肯定该国存在该病原体。另一方面，鉴定出具有南欧起源的[相关病原体]菌株有力地支持了我们关于牛源性人畜共患巴贝斯虫可能被引入沙特阿拉伯的推测。本研究不仅是对[病原体名称]的首次分子调查，也是沙特阿拉伯关于[相关病原体]分子身份的首次报告。需要进行全国范围的牛和蜱监测以进一步证实我们的推测。
