Ishag Hassan Zackaria Ali, Habeeba Shameem, El Tigani-Asil El Tigani Ahmed, Yuosf Mohd Farouk, Al Hammadi Zulaikha Mohamed Abdel Hameed, Commey Abraham Nii Okai, Bin Hraiz Hashel Talal Aboud Amer, Shah Asma Abdi Mohamed, Khalafalla Abdelmalik Ibrahim
Biosecurity Affairs Division, Development and Innovation Sector, Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority, Abu Dhabi P.O. Box 52150, United Arab Emirates.
Vet Sci. 2024 Mar 7;11(3):123. doi: 10.3390/vetsci11030123.
The recent emergence of anaplasmosis in camels has raised global interest in the pathogenicity and zoonotic potential of the pathogen causing it and the role of camels as reservoir hosts. In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), molecular studies and genetic characterization of camel-associated Anaplasma species are limited. This study aimed to characterize molecularly Anaplasmataceae strains circulating in dromedary camels in the UAE. Two hundred eighty-seven whole-blood samples collected from dromedary camels across regions of the Abu Dhabi Emirate were received between 2019 and 2023 at the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority (ADAFSA) veterinary laboratories for routine diagnosis of anaplasmosis. The animals were sampled based on field clinical observation by veterinarians and their tentative suspicion of blood parasite infection on the basis of similar clinical symptoms as those caused by blood parasites in ruminants. The samples were screened for Anaplasmataceae by PCR assay targeting the gene. Anaplasmataceae strains were further characterized by sequencing and phylogenetic analysis of the gene. Thirty-five samples (35/287 = 12.2%) tested positive for spp. by PCR assay. Nine positive samples (9/35 = 25.7%) were sequenced using gene primers. GenBank BLAST analysis revealed that all strains were 100% identical to the reference sequence available in the GenBank nucleotide database. Phylogenetic analysis further indicated that the sequences were close to each other and were located in one cluster with sequences detected in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, and the UAE. Pairwise alignment showed that the UAE sequences detected in this study were completely identical and shared 100% identity with from Morocco and Saudi Arabia and 99.5% identity with from the UAE. This study demonstrates the presence of in UAE dromedary camels. Further critical investigation of the clinical and economical significance of this pathogen in camels needs to be carried out.
骆驼无形体病最近的出现引发了全球对导致该病的病原体的致病性、人畜共患病潜力以及骆驼作为储存宿主的作用的关注。在阿拉伯联合酋长国（阿联酋），关于骆驼相关无形体物种的分子研究和基因特征分析有限。本研究旨在对阿联酋单峰骆驼中传播的无形体科菌株进行分子特征分析。2019年至2023年期间，阿布扎比农业和食品安全局（ADAFSA）兽医实验室接收了从阿布扎比酋长国各地区的单峰骆驼采集的287份全血样本，用于无形体病的常规诊断。这些动物是根据兽医的现场临床观察以及基于与反刍动物血液寄生虫引起的类似临床症状而对血液寄生虫感染的初步怀疑进行采样的。通过针对 基因的PCR检测对样本进行无形体科筛查。通过对 基因进行测序和系统发育分析，进一步对无形体科菌株进行特征分析。通过PCR检测，35个样本（35/287 = 12.2%）检测出 属阳性。使用 基因引物对9个阳性样本（9/35 = 25.7%）进行测序。GenBank BLAST分析显示，所有菌株与GenBank核苷酸数据库中可用的 参考序列100%相同。系统发育分析进一步表明，这些序列彼此接近，并且与在沙特阿拉伯、摩洛哥和阿联酋检测到的 序列位于一个簇中。成对比对显示，本研究中检测到的阿联酋序列完全相同，并与来自摩洛哥和沙特阿拉伯的 序列共享100%的同一性，与来自阿联酋的 序列共享99.5%的同一性。本研究证明了 在阿联酋单峰骆驼中的存在。需要对该病原体在骆驼中的临床和经济意义进行进一步的关键研究。
