An epidemiological survey of bovine piroplasmosis in Kashgar, Xinjiang, China

Abstract Piroplasmosis is an important tick-borne disease in several regions, leading to significant economic losses in the development of animal husbandry. The present research aimed to systematically grasp the infection of bovine Piroplasma in Kashgar, Xinjiang, to provide a reference for the effective prevention and control of bovine piroplasmosis in the region. Based on the universal primers of Piroplasma and the specific primers of Theileria annulata, a total of 1403 bovine blood samples from 12 sampling sites were detected by PCR. The 18S rRNA gene sequence was amplified and sequenced. Species of Piroplasma were identified and phylogenetic relationship was analyzed using MEGA 7 and BLASTn tool of NCBI GenBank database. The overall infection rate of bovine Piroplasma was 65.93%(925/1403), a total of 3 species pathogens of Theileria including T. annulata, T. orientalis, and T. sinensis were detected out, and the infection rates were 65.07%༈913/1403) 、 0.50%༈7/1403) 、 0.07%༈1/1403). The mixed infection rate of T. orientalis and T. annulata was 0.29% (4/1403). No Babesia was detected in this study. In conclusion, bovine Piroplasmosis was still more serious in Kashgar. T. annulata is the dominant species, and there is a mixed infection of T. annulata and T. orientalis. In addition, it is noteworthy that T. sinensis was first detected in this region. Therefore, the prevention and control of bovine piroplasmosis should be strengthened.