Absence of Host-Specific Hemotropic Mycoplasmas in Horses and Donkeys from Croatia: First Systematic Survey in Southeastern Europe.
Abstract: Hemotropic mycoplasmas (hemoplasmas) are uncultivable, cell wall-less bacteria that parasitizeon the surface of red blood cells of mammals, potentially causing anemia and other systemic signs. While widely distributed among domestic and wild animals, their occurrence in equids remains poorly understood, and no species has been identified as host-specific to horses or donkeys. This study presents the first systematic survey of hemoplasmas in equids from southeastern Europe and only the second molecularly confirmed case in horses in Europe. A total of 843 equids (817 horses and 26 donkeys) from different regions of Croatia, representing various ages, uses, and husbandry systems, were screened for hemoplasmas by PCR targeting the 16S rRNA gene. Only one horse tested positive, identified as , a hemoplasma typically associated with cattle. The estimated prevalence was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.003-0.68%). No donkeys were infected. The extremely low prevalence observed here-the lowest reported in any study detecting hemoplasma-positive horses-supports the hypothesis that equids do not harbor host-specific hemoplasma species and may only sporadically acquire infections from other hosts via spillover. This finding underscores the apparent absence of persistent hemoplasma lineages adapted to equids and highlights the need for further research on their epidemiology, host specificity, and transmission dynamics.
Publication Date: 2026-01-15 PubMed ID: 41594454PubMed Central: PMC12837906DOI: 10.3390/ani16020263Google Scholar: Lookup
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APA
Konstantinović N, Gotić J, Baban M, Csik G, Listeš E, Gagović E, Jurković Žilić D, Arežina I, Šubara G, Čulina FE, Delić N, Višal D, Zvonar Z, Beck R, Kostelić A.
(2026).
Absence of Host-Specific Hemotropic Mycoplasmas in Horses and Donkeys from Croatia: First Systematic Survey in Southeastern Europe.
Animals (Basel), 16(2), 263.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani16020263 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Faculty of Agrobiotechnical Sciences Osijek, J.J. Strossmayer University, 31 000 Osijek, Croatia.
- Veterinary Clinic Equivet d.o.o., 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Linkomed Veterina d.o.o., 21 230 Sinj, Croatia.
- Croatian Veterinary Institute, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Croatian Veterinary Institute, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Veterinary Clinic Gospić, 53 000 Gospić, Croatia.
- Agency for Rural Development of Istria (AZRRI), 52 000 Pazin, Croatia.
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Miagro Veterina d.o.o., 31500 Lipine, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Croatian Veterinary Institute, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
- Faculty of Agriculture, University of Zagreb, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia.
Conflict of Interest Statement
Author Goran Csik was employed by the company Veterinary Clinic Equivet d.o.o. Author Ema Listeš was employed by the company Linkomed Veterina d.o.o. Author Zlatko Zvonar was employed by the company Miagro Veterina d.o.o. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
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