Molecular Detection and Characterization of and in Cattle and Water Buffaloes from Southern Luzon, Philippines.

and are tick-borne protozoan parasites that can cause significant economic losses in the cattle industry. This study aimed to contribute to the limited epidemiological data on as well as and in large ruminants in the Philippines. Blood samples of 412 cattle and 108 water buffalo collected from four provinces in Southern Luzon, Philippines, were initially tested for the gene of piroplasms through nested PCR. Positive samples were further subjected to species-specific PCR. The of piroplasms was detected in 123 (29.9%) cattle and three (2.8%) water buffaloes. was found to be the most common piroplasm in cattle with a detection rate of 17.5%, followed by and . Co-infections were also observed. Two water buffaloes were found infected with , while one was positive for . The phylogenetic tree for showed clustering of the isolates in two clades together with isolates from other countries, and a third separate clade. Meanwhile, the isolates in this study were distributed in three clades together with reported isolates from other countries. This study confirms the presence of in the Philippines and reports the genetic diversity of and .