A survey of piroplasms in white-tailed deer () in the southeastern United States to determine their possible role as hosts.

In 2017, clinical disease and mortality in cattle associated with Ikeda was reported in Virginia, U.S. The exotic tick, is a competent vector for this species. White-tailed deer () are commonly infested with in the eastern U.S. and are also infected with several genotypes of piroplasms such as a sp. (often called like), , and sp. H10. However, it is currently unknown if deer are susceptible to and can act as potential hosts. In this study, we tested 552 white-tailed deer samples from the southeastern U.S. to determine the presence of . We used a PCR-RFLP to test 293 (53%) of these samples to distinguish between piroplasm genera. A total of 189 white-tailed deer were positive with 47 were positive with , and 57 did not amplify. Because this assay does not determine species, we sequenced 30 random samples targeting a fragment of the 18S rRNA gene. Although a high diversity of and spp. were detected, none were . All 552 samples were then screened with a specific real-time PCR protocol, but none were positive for Our data suggests that white-tailed deer are commonly infected with piroplasm species but not .