Theileria and Babesia Parasites in Ticks in Tunisia

• Published in: Transboundary and emerging diseases Vol. 57; no. 1-2; pp. 49 - 51
• Main Authors: M'ghirbi, Y, Hurtado, A, Bouattour, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Oxford, UK : Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.04.2010; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Hindawi Limited; Wiley-Blackwell
• Subjects: Animals; Babesia; Babesia - classification; Babesia - isolation & purification; babesiosis; disease prevalence; DNA, Protozoan; DNA, Protozoan - genetics; Ixodidae; Life Sciences; Microbiology and Parasitology; Mixed infection; Parasites; Parasitic protozoa; Piroplasmia; reverse line blot analysis; RLB; Species Specificity; Theileria; Theileria - classification; Theileria - isolation & purification; theileriosis; tick-borne diseases; Ticks; Ticks - classification; Ticks - parasitology; Tunisia; Tunisia
• ISSN: 1865-1674; 1865-1682
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1865-1682.2010.01110.x

A total 576 adult ixodid ticks, collected in seven sites in Northern Tunisia, were analysed for piroplasm infection. Reverse line blot analysis identified nine different piroplasms, with an overall prevalence of 22.7%. 17.8% were Theileria spp. positive, 8.5% were positive for Babesia spp. and 3.6% of ticks harboured both genera. Although, most of the positive ticks harboured a single infection (17%), mixed infections with two, three or four different piroplasm species were also detected (5.7%).