Conventional and molecular diagnosis of haemo-protozoan infections in cattle and equids from Republic of Guinea and India

Abstract

A cross-sectional study was carried out on 50 N’ Dama cattle and 35 equids blood samples from Republic of Guinea and Punjab, India, respectively to assess the level of exposure to obligatory haemoprotozoa Theileria equi and Trypanosoma evansi by 18S rRNA gene based primary and nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) and RoTat1.2 based card agglutination test (CATT), and to investigate risk factors associated with the infection. Blood smear examination revealed the prevalence rate of 6% (95% CI = 2.06-16.22) for Trypanosoma spp. in N’dama cattle and 5.7% for T. equi in equids. In equids, 17.14% (95% CI = 8.10-32.68) samples showed positive titer by CATT. Primary PCR showed 5.71% (95% CI = 1.58-18.8) infection and on the other hand nested PCR depicted 20% (95% CI = 10.04-35.89) T. equi infection. Moreover, only 8.57% (95% CI = 2.96-22.38) prevalence of T. evansi was recorded by T. evansi based multiplex PCR. PCRs revealed higher risk of infection of both T. equi (OR = 5.28, 95% CI = 0.68-49.81) and T. evansi (OR = 3.33, 95% CI = 0.20-104.83) in the farms where proper deworming/vaccination schedule was not followed. The risk factor associated with the type of host species had an odds ratio (OR) of 5 (95% CI = 3.90-74.33) for donkeys/mules versus horses for T. equi infection. This group was also at higher risk of infection with OR of 4.8 (95% CI = 0.12-124.47) for T. evansi. The present exploration brings out a variety of commodities at risk of infectivity pertaining to trypanosomosis and theileriosis calculated by different PCRs assay.