Babesia ovis as the main causative agent of sheep babesiosis in Iran

Babesiosis is a haemoparasitic disease with high economical losses in livestock industry worldwide. The early diagnosis and successful therapy of babesiosis belong to the key steps of control and health management of livestock. Ethanol-fixed blood samples of 400 sheep were analyzed for Babesia infection. Reverse line blot (RLB) was established specifically for Theileria lestoquardi, Theileria (China 1), Theileria (China 2), Theileria ovis, Theileria separata, Babesia ovis, Babesia motasi, Babesia crassa, and Babesia (Lintan). The DNA was extracted from the ethanol-fixed blood samples and amplified with a common primer pair derived from 18S rRNA gene, amplifying both Theileria spp. as well as Babesia spp. Regarding the differences in the length of nucleotide sequences of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products obtained from Theileria spp. and Babesia spp., the PCR products derived from Babesia spp. were out screened and analyzed by RLB. The RLB analysis showed that 28 samples within the 400 blood samples were B. ovis positive. No B. motasi, B. crassa, or Babesia (Lintan) could be detected. The sequence analysis of one PCR product as a representative for other B. ovis-positive PCR products confirmed the results of RLB. Our results and the results of other investigators showed that B. ovis could be considered as a main causative agent of sheep babesiosis in Iran. Furthermore, our results also showed that RLB can be used as a reliable method for a simultaneous differentiation of Theileria and Babesia species from each other.