Investigation of Anaplasma Species with Veterinary and Public Health Significance in Sheep and Goats

This study was carried out to investigate Anaplasma important for veterinary and public health in sheep and goats in Niğde province in Türkiye by using molecular methods.

Blood samples were taken from randomly selected 690 animals (520 sheep and 170 goats), which were between 1 and 10 years old and from different study sites in Niğde by using the vacutainer tubes containing EDTA. After the genomic DNA extractions samples, the Anaplasma spp. 16S rRNA genes were amplified by PCR. Species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were performed on positive samples for the presence of A. bovis, A. capra, A. ovis, A. platys-like, and A. phagocytophilum. At the same time, the animals were tested for ixodid tick infestation and collected ticks were examined for identification under the stereo-microscope.

The results of PCR analysis show that the overall A. ovis prevalence was 63.3% (437/690) in small ruminants sampled. A total of 361 sheep (69.4%) and 76 goats (44.7%) were found to be infected with A. ovis, whereas no positivity was detected for A. bovis, A. capra, A. platys-like, and A. phagocytophilum. Anaplasma ovis positivity was observed at the highest percent in May (%74.6) while the lowest in June (%52.4). In total, 1361 ticks (579♀, 782♂) were collected from sheep and goats in Niğde. Ticks were identified as Rhipicephalus bursa (383, 28.1%), R. turanicus (607, 44.6%), Hyalomma marginatum (7, 0.5%), Hy. excavatum (247, 18.1%), Hy. anatolicum (23, 1.7%), Haemophsalis parva (21, 1.5%), Hae. punctata (7, 0.5%), Hae. sulcata (40, 2.9%) and Dermacentor marginatus (26, 1.9%).

The present study reports a high prevalence of A. ovis 63.3% (437/690) in sheep and goats in Niğde province.