First Record on Serological Study of Anaplasma marginale Infection in Ovis aries by ELISA, in District Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

Geographical sero-prevalence of Anaplasma marginale (T) in sheep, Ovis aries (L) was done from January-May, 2012 in district Peshawar which is a crowded area of Pakistan. In this area sheep’s infection with A. marginale is not reported before. For this purpose, 376 serum samples were obtained conveniently from 4 different breeds of sheep, from different geographical areas of Peshawar. An indirect ELISA using recombinant MSP-5 as antigen of A. marginale, was performed. Totally, 92/376 (24.47%) of the overall sheep sera were positive. In 6 areas of Peshawar, Peshthakhara and Mashokhel area were found highly infected i.e. 32.00% and 32.00% respectively, while Ghazi baba area was less infected comparatively. While age wise, adults were highly infected specially turkai ones. This is the first record of A. marginale showing high rate infection in sheep in Peshawar, Pakistan, This research should be useful in epidemiological applications.