Detection of Theileria Lestoquardi in Sheep in Animal Production Research Stations, Sudan (APRS

Abstract

A cross sectional study was conducted in May and December 2016 to investigate the prevalence of T. lestoquardi infection in sheep and to assess the association between the occurrence of the infection with risk factors (ecotype, age, sex, body condition score , season and location) in Elhuda and Elnuhud Animals production research stations, Sudan. Four hundred sheep were selected randomly from Elhuda and Elnuhud (202 samples from Elhuda and 198 samples from Elnuhud). Whole blood samples were examined by blood smear (n≡400), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (n≡200), and blood for serum (n≡400) to detect the antibodies using indirect fluorescent technique (IFAT). The result showed that Theileria spp infection is common in sheep and the prevalence rate was estimated to be 13.4 % by blood smear, and T. lestoquardi estimated to be 22.0% and 12.1% by IFAT and PCR respectively. The subsequent risk factors revealed that association with sheep T. lestoquardi in the univariate analysis under significant level of P-value ≤ 0.05: Concerning blood smear Significance association was observed for body condition score (BCS) (p-value =0.012) while IFAT recorded significant association with ecotype (p-value =0.005 ), BCS (p-value =0.003), Stations (p-value =0.005 ) and season (p-value =0.000 ) beside PCR which was found positively associated with ecotype (p-value =0.051 ) and Stations (p-value = 0.005 ). The ticks found in Elhuda research station were R. e. evertsi and Hy. anatolicum, while in Elnuhud in addition to these two species Hy. dromedarii and Hy. impeltatum were also found.