Duaso Juan, Perez-Ecija Alejandro, Martínez Esther, Navarro Ana, De Las Heras Adelaida, Mendoza Francisco J
Department of Animal Medicine and Surgery, University of Cordoba, 14014 Cordoba, Spain.
Gasset Laboratory, DAV Salud Group SL, 18200 Granada, Spain.
Animals (Basel). 2025 May 20;15(10):1485. doi: 10.3390/ani15101485.
Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a tick-borne disease affecting equids worldwide. Diagnosis is based on direct methods (blood smear or PCR) or indirect methods (serology); however, these techniques yield positive and negative results. Thus, an alternative, reliable, rapid, and cost-effective complementary tool, such as hematologic parameters and newly described hematologic ratios, could help in the EP diagnosis. This study describes the changes induced by piroplasmosis infection on hematologic parameters and ratios in horses. PCR-positive horses exhibited anemia and thrombocytopenia, whereas PCR-positive horses showed anemia and leukocytosis. -seropositive horses had lower neutrophil and lymphocyte percentages than seronegative horses. Hematologic ratios displayed significant differences between negative and infected horses (mostly those infected by ). Most of the variations observed in these ratios were those previously linked to the worst prognosis or outcome in horses and humans. This study also evaluates the ability to predict the EP status of these hematologic parameters and ratios, with platelet-related parameters showing a fair ability to predict a PCR-positive result. While molecular methods remain the gold standard, complete hematology analysis and ratios could provide valuable complementary information to enhance the diagnostic accuracy of piroplasmosis in horses.
马焦虫病（EP）是一种由蜱传播的疾病，影响着全球的马属动物。诊断基于直接方法（血涂片或聚合酶链反应）或间接方法（血清学）；然而，这些技术会产生阳性和阴性结果。因此，一种替代的、可靠的、快速且具有成本效益的辅助工具，如血液学参数和新描述的血液学比率，可能有助于马焦虫病的诊断。本研究描述了焦虫病感染对马血液学参数和比率的影响。聚合酶链反应阳性的马表现出贫血和血小板减少，而聚合酶链反应阳性的马表现出贫血和白细胞增多。血清学阳性的马的中性粒细胞和淋巴细胞百分比低于血清学阴性的马。阴性马和感染马（主要是那些被感染的马）之间的血液学比率存在显著差异。在这些比率中观察到的大多数变化是那些先前与马和人类最差预后或结果相关的变化。本研究还评估了这些血液学参数和比率预测马焦虫病状态的能力，血小板相关参数显示出相当的能力来预测聚合酶链反应阳性结果。虽然分子方法仍然是金标准，但完整的血液学分析和比率可以提供有价值的补充信息，以提高马焦虫病诊断的准确性。
