Molecular and microscopic detection of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi in horses in Kurdestan Province, Iran

Equine piroplasmosis is a tick-borne disease caused by intra-erythrocyte protozoa, Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. The present study aimed to detect piroplasm infection in horses in Kurdestan Province, Iran, through molecular and microscopic approaches.n this study, 186 blood samples were randomly collected from horses of five regions of Kurdestan Province. The Tbs-S/Tbs-A primer set was used for amplification of Theileria equi and Babesia caballi DNA through polymerase chain reaction. Blood smears of each case were also examined by Giemsa staining method. During microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained blood smears, 3 out of 186 (1.61%) blood samples were positive for piroplasm infection. The product of only one blood sample yielded 426-430 bp-sized fragments on a 1.5% agarose gel electrophoresis, and BLAST analysis of the sequenced sample indicated a 100% similarity with T. equi 18S rRNA gene sequences in GenBank. The results indicated that one out of 186 blood sample was positive (0.54%) for Theileria equi and none of them was positive for Babesia caballi.