Prevalence and Genetic Characterization of Histomonas meleagridis in Chickens in Vietnam

This study was performed to investigate the prevalence and to characterize the genetic diversity of Histomonas meleagridis isolates in chickens in southern Vietnam. A total of 194 chickens, randomly selected from 18 backyard and 18 commercial flocks, were screened for H. meleagridis infection using both macroscopic diagnosis and an 18S rRNA gene-based PCR method. Overall, 12.9% of birds, representing 19 flocks, showed gross lesions typical for histomonosis whereas 25.3% of the birds from 29 flocks were positive by PCR assay. Following initial diagnostic approaches, H. meleagridis-positive samples were further analyzed by sequencing three different genomic loci; the 18S rRNA, alpha-actinin1, and rpb1. Thirteen samples from 12 flocks were genetically identified as H. meleagridis, demonstrating a flock and sample prevalence of 33.3% and 6.7%, respectively. There was no significant difference in prevalence between different farm types, age groups, and seasonality. Genetic analysis demonstrated minor heterogeneity of Vietnamese isolates with 99% homology to H. meleagridis sequences from the database. This is the first survey of the prevalence and genetic characterization of H. meleagridis in chickens in Vietnam.