Survey Of Eimeria Species And Moleculear Epidemiology Of Piroplasmosis In Sheep And Goats In Partial Regions Of China

The parasitic disease in sheep and goats is one of the diseases that seriouslyinfluences the healthy development of sheep and goat industry. Out of the parasitic diseases,coccidiosis and piroplasmosis are common in sheep and goats worldwide as sheep or goatsare highly susceptible to coccidia and piroplasma infection. These parasitic pathogens causeill thrift and reduction of breeding efficiency of sheep and goat. These also hamper theproduction of meat, milk, wool, casings, leather and the quality of leather. In seriouscondition, the animals may die. In this way, these parasites incur huge economic loss insheep and goats industry globally and discourage the sheep and goat regarding business.Considering the facts, the present study was carried out to know the epidemiology of thoseparasites in sheep and goats in some parts of China. During the period from January2011toNovember2012, a total of2639fecal samples and465blood samples were collected fromsome regions of Henan province, Hefei in Anhui province, Yunyang in Chongqing province,Chaoyang in Liaoning province, Shuangliao in Jilin province, Dongying in Shandongprovince, Shangdu and Sunite in Inner Mongolia province, Guiyang and Qinglong inGuizhou province, Kunming in Yunnan province of China. All fecal samples were checkedby the Sheather’s sugar flotation and McMaster’s method. Coccidian oocysts in coccidiapositive samples were collected and cultured, and species of coccidia were identifiedmicroscopically. All blood samples were screened by PCR based on the18S rRNA gene.Species of piroplasma was identified and phylogenetic relationship was analyzed.The overall coccidian infection rate was95.72%(2526/2639) whereas the sheepcoccidian infection rate was96.43%(1109/1150) and the goat coccidian infection rate was95.16%(1417/1489). In case of sheep, thirteen Eimeria spp. were identified namely Eimeriaahsata, E. bakuensis, E. parva, E. gonzalezi, E. pallida, E. granulose, E. weybridgensis, E.ovinoidalis, E. marsica, E. crandallis, E. intricate, E. faurei and E. punctata. On the otherhand, twenlve Eimeria spp. were identified in goat such as E. apsheronica, E. arloingi, E.alijevi, E. punctata, E. pallida, E. hirci, E. kocharli, E. christenseni, E. ninakohlyakimovae,E. caprina, E. caprovina and E. jolchijevi. Most ovine and caprine Eimeria species hadmultiple infection; the sheep and goat multiple infection rate were81.19%(807/994) and71.39(604/846) respectively. Two to ten Eimeria species in sheep and the predominant species were E. marsica, E. bakuensis and E. parva. Two to nine Eimeria species in goatsand the predominant species were E. hirci, E. arloingi, E. christenseni and E. alijevi. TheEimeria species and their infection rates were different according to the location, seasons,age, breed and feeding and rearing patterns of sheep and goat, but the predominant specieswere identical. This was the first survey about coccidia and Eimeria species of Hu sheep,and also the first investigation of ovine and caprine Eimeria species in different months. Thestudy showed that the ovine and caprine coccidian infection was very common and most ofthe Eimeria species had multiple infections. Therefore, we can conclude that by theapplication of synthesized prevention and treatment protocols, the economic loss regardingcoccidiosis in sheep and goat will be minimized.In order to understand the species and epidemiological characteristics of ovine andcaprine piroplasma, a total of465blood samples were collected from partial regions ofHenan province, Guiyang and Qinglong in Guizhou province, Kunming in Yunnan province,Wanrong in Shanxi province, Shangdu and Sunite in Inner Mongolia province during theperiod from November2011to November2012. All the blood samples were tested bymicroscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood smears and PCR (Conventional PCR andnested PCR). A total of52ovine and caprine piroplasma positive samples were detected bymicroscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood smears and the infection rate was11.18%(52/465). While78ovine and caprine piroplasma positive samples were detected by PCRand the infection rate was16.77%(78/465). The PCR result revealed Theileria luwenshuniand Babesia motasi of piroplasma in the positive blood samples. The study showed that PCRamplification was more sensitive and specific than microscopic examination ofGiemsa-stained blood smears. It could identify different species and detect piroplasmapositive samples those were negative in microscopic examination.In order to identify species or genotype of ovine and caprine piroplasma isolates, thesequences of18S rRNA gene of78T. luwenshuni isolates and8B. motasi isolates werethen subjected to search homological sequences in NCBI using Blast tool and interrelated18S rRNA sequences were downloaded. Theileria sequences and Babesia sequences werealigned and spliced by Clustal X1.83and the homology analysis and Phylogenetic tree weremade by some biological softwares such as DNAStar7.5and MEGA5.0, respectively. Theresults show that78T. luwenshuni isolates were confined in the same clade as T. luwenshuni(KC429038.1) with100%identity, and8B. motasi isolates were confined in the same cladeas B. motasi-Tianzhu (JX440506.1) with100%identity.