Theileria spp. in free ranging giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis) in Zambia

Theileria parasites were detected in five apparently healthy free-ranging giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis Linnaeus, 1758) captured for translocation on a game ranch located approximately 60 km south west of Lusaka. Giemsa-stained blood smears examined under a light microscope showed characteristic oval and rod shaped intra-erythrocytic piroplasms. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products targeted on the 18S rRNA […]

Tick-borne pathogens in the blood of wild and domestic ungulates in South Africa: Interplay of game and livestock

We screened for tick-borne pathogens blood samples from 181 wild and domestic ungulates belonging to 18 host species in 4 South African Provinces. Polymerase chain reaction followed by reverse line blotting and sequencing allowed detecting 16 tick-borne pathogen species belonging to the genera Babesia, Theileria, Anaplasma, and Ehrlichia. Ten pathogen species were involved in 29 […]