Geographic Determination of Theileria ovis in goat in Tehran Province using molecular method

Theileria ovis is one of the benign hemoprotozoal agents in sheep and goat in tropical and subtropical regions which is transmitted by ixodid ticks. This study was carried out on 400 randomly selected healthy goats for determining the distribution of T. ovis. After preparing the blood smears, they were examined staining by Giemsa method for microscopic studies. In order to molecular diagnosis, DNA was extracted from blood samples. Subsequently, the genomic DNA from piroplasms was first extracted and then amplified with the primer pair using hyper variable region V4 of 18S rRNA for simultaneous differentiation of Theileria and Babesia. Differential diagnosis of Theileria ovis from T. annulata and T. lestoquardi was performed using Semi-nested PCR technique on the PCR products with primers specific derived from hyper variable region V4 of 18S rRNA, P2, P3 for T. ovis and with primers specific derived from ms1-2 gene for T. lestoquardi (P4, P6) and T. annulata (P5, P6). The results of microscopic examinations showed that 1.7 % (7/400) were positive for the presence of T. ovis in comparison to T. ovis which were 6% (24/400) in Semi-nested PCR. The results of present study revealed that T. ovis is detectable in goats without any clinical manifestation. Therefore, the goats can be served as reservoirs of the infection for ticks and transmission agents of this parasite to the sheep.