Identification of Babesia and Theileria species in goats and ticks with smear observation and molecular examination in Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi province, Iran

Babesiosis and Thosis are parasitic tick-borne diseases that cause a lot of economic loss in livestock Industry. The purpose of the present study was to detect Babesia and Theileria infection in goats and and vector ticks in goats in Mashhad. One hundred blood samples of goats and 246 ticks were collected from some suspected flocks with history of piroplasmosis. The samples were transported to laboratory under cold condition. Blood smears were prepared and stained by Geimsa method and examined with a light microscope at ×1000 magnitude. The collected ticks were separated into tick pools of five according to their species and sex. The blood، salivary gland and ovaries of tick samples were examined using specific primers of Babesia. spp and Theileria. spp by semi nested-PCR. Piroplasm bodies were not observed in any blood samples of goat in Mashhad. In a total of 246 collected ticks، seven species were identified as follows: R. turanicus 127 (51. 6%)، D. marginatus 67 (27. 2%)، Hy. marginatum 44 (17. 9%)، R. sangunincus 4 (1. 6%)، Hy. anatolicum 2 (0. 8%)، Hy. asiaticum 1 (0. 4%) and Heam. sulcata 1 (0. 4%). Dominant tick species of goats in Mashhad suburb were R. turanicus and D. marginatus. The results of PCR showed that none of the blood samples were infected with Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. Also، Theileria infectoin was detected in a sample salivary glands of Hy. marginatum. Based on microscopic and molecular results، no Theileria spp. and Babesia spp. infection were detected in goats. R. turanicus was the dominat tick species and Theileria spp. infection was detected in one sample of Hy. marginatum.