Identification and molecular characterization of some blood parasites in camels

Egyptian camels are vulnerable to blood parasitic infection, which is an economically important tick-borne diseases and compromise health and production of camels. Blood samples were collected for microscopic identification and molecular detection with phylogenetic analysis of piroplasms in apparently healthy camels ' number 82' of both sexes in Assiut, Egypt. The overall positive rates of Babesia was 62.2% and Theileria was 35.4% microsobically which revealed that Babesia infection is higher than Theileria in camels. The positive rates of Babesia and Theileria species were higher in females (71.7%) and (36.9%) than males (50%) and (33.3%), respectively. Likewise, the positive rates of Babesia and Theileria species were higher in camels > 3 years (68.8%) and (37.5%) than ≤ 3 years (52.9%) and (32.4%), respectively. Statistically, the positive rate of Babesia is significantly associated with gender (P< 0.05). PCR analysis targeted Babesia 18S rRNA and Theileria annulata tams1 genes. The phylogenetic analysis of PCR amplicons shown that analyzed isolates were Babesia caballi (B. caballi) with accession numbers (OR683438 and OR683439) and Theileria annulata (T. annulata) with accession numbers (OR682402 and OR682403) which closely related to global isolates present in NCBI. Genetically, B. caballi was related to isolates from South Africa, Cuba and Venezuela horses, while T. annulata was genetically related to isolates from United Kingdom, India and Turkey. We concluded that B. caballi and T. annulata is prevalent in camels with the need of early diagnosis and treatment to prevent further spread of infection with tick control program to reduce the risk of infection.