FREE SHIPPING over $40
OVER 10000 FIVE-STAR REVIEWS
5% OFF ALL SUBSCRIPTIONS
100% HAPPINESS GUARANTEE
Analyze Diet
0
Parasitology research2023; 122(8); 1873-1881; doi: 10.1007/s00436-023-07888-2

Morphological, serological, molecular detection, and phylogenetic analysis of Trypanosoma evansi in horses of different regions in Iran.

Abstract: Trypanosoma evansi, the causative agent of "surra" is enzootic in Iran. The current study aimed to detect T. evansi in horses from different regions of Iran using morphological, serological, and molecular methods. In 2021, 400 blood samples were collected from horses in eight regions. Eighty horses showed clinical signs such as cachexia (n = 64), fever (n = 36), foot edema (n = 40), and abdominal edema (n = 32), and 320 horses appeared healthy. All samples from the studied regions were evaluated for the presence of trypanosomes using direct analysis of blood smears, mercuric chloride, and PCR-based tests. In total, 12% (95% CI: ± 3.1%), 21% (95% CI: ± 3.9%), and 21% (84) of animals were positive for Trypanosoma in microscopic, serologic, and molecular analyses, respectively. All animals positive for SSU rDNA PCR were from Qom, Semnan, and Golestan regions. Further molecular analyses on 84 PCR-positive horses revealed that 29 horses scored positive in PCR using primers of trypanozoon species and 5 scored positive in PCR using primers of Trypanosoma evansi type A. All samples (n = 5) were from Qom region. The 205-bp fragments of T. evansi RoTat 1.2VSG (accession numbers: ON017789-93) analyzed and compared to other isolates sequence from GenBank BLAST search. It has close similarities with isolates from Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Kenya, and India. Data herein demonstrated that horses from Iran were at high risk of T. evansi infection. Comprehensive control programs, such as those based on the application of repellants and traps, and also, compliance with quarantine standards are recommended for minimizing the risk of the infection.
© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.
Get Full Text
Publication Date: 2023-06-05 PubMed ID: 37272975PubMed Central: 8858479DOI: 10.1007/s00436-023-07888-2Google Scholar: Lookup
The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
LinkedInCopy
  • Journal Article

Summary

This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.

The study focuses on the detection and analysis of the parasite ‘Trypanosoma evansi,’ the cause of a disease called ‘surra,’ among horses in Iran. It uses multiple detection tools, such as morphology, serology, and molecular methods, and also performs a phylogenetic analysis for further understanding.

Study Scope and Methods

  • This research was conducted in 2021, targeting multiple regions in Iran. The focus was on Trypanosoma evansi, a pathogen responsible for deadly equine disease known as “surra.”
  • The researchers collected a total of 400 blood samples from horses across eight different Iranian regions. Some of these horses showed signs of being infected with ‘surra’, such as weight loss, fever, and different forms of edema.
  • Three main types of tests were employed to detect the presence of the Trypanosoma parasites: direct analysis of blood smears, a mercuric chloride test, and PCR-based tests (molecular analysis).

Results of the Study

  • The study revealed the presence of Trypanosoma in varying percentages of tested horses, 12% in microscopic analysis, and 21% in both serologic and molecular analyses. The results suggest a substantial presence of the parasite among the horse population in the surveyed regions.
  • All identified positive cases of Trypanosoma in the molecular (PCR-based) analysis were from three regions: Qom, Semnan, and Golestan.
  • Further in-depth molecular study on the PCR-positive cases determined that several horses showed specific evidence of the presence of Trypanosoma evansi. All samples which exhibited this were from the Qom region.

Phylogenetic Analysis and Recommendations

  • The researchers also performed a phylogenetic analysis using specific fragments of T. evansi, showing similarities with isolates from Pakistan, Egypt, Malaysia, Kenya, and India. This reveals that the detected strains in Iran have a close genetic relationship with strains from other countries.
  • Given the findings of a high risk of infection among the horse population in Iran, the researchers advise comprehensive control programs, including the use of repellants, traps, and strict adherence to quarantine standards to minimize the spread of the disease caused by T. evansi.

Cite This Article

APA
Javanshir A, Tavassoli M, Esmaeilnejad B. (2023). Morphological, serological, molecular detection, and phylogenetic analysis of Trypanosoma evansi in horses of different regions in Iran. Parasitol Res, 122(8), 1873-1881. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07888-2

Publication

Parasitology research
ISSN: 1432-1955
NlmUniqueID: 8703571
Country: Germany
Language: English
Volume: 122
Issue: 8
Pages: 1873-1881

Researcher Affiliations

Javanshir, Ali
  • Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.
Tavassoli, Mousa
  • Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran. mtavassoli2000@yahoo.com.
Esmaeilnejad, Bijan
  • Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran.

MeSH Terms

  • Horses
  • Animals
  • Phylogeny
  • Iran / epidemiology
  • Trypanosoma / genetics
  • Trypanosomiasis / diagnosis
  • Trypanosomiasis / epidemiology
  • Trypanosomiasis / veterinary
  • Camelus

References

This article includes 47 references
  1. Al Malki JS, Hussien NA. Molecular characterization of Trypanosoma evansi, T. vivax and T. congolense in camels (Camelus dromedarius) of KSA. BMC Vet Res 18:1–9.
    doi: 10.1186/s12917-022-03148-0google scholar: lookup
  2. Anvari D, Jahantighi F, Pishadast S, Hashemi SH. First report of Trypanosoma equiperdum infection of horse from Sarbaz city. In: Proceedings of the 3rd national congress of equine health and diseases, 29th April–1st May. Shiraz, Iran, p 41.
  3. Aregawi WG, Agga GE, Abdi RD, Büscher P. Systematic review and meta-analysis on the global distribution, host range, and prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi. Parasit Vectors 12:1–25.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-019-3311-4google scholar: lookup
  4. Asghari MM, Rassouli M. First identification of Trypanosoma vivax among camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Yazd, central Iran, jointly with Trypanosoma evansi. Parasitol Int 86:102450.
    doi: 10.1016/j.parint.2021.102450pubmed: 34506947google scholar: lookup
  5. Badiei K, Ahmadi MR, Nazifi S. Equine trypanosomiasis (T. evansi): a case report associated with abortion. Iran Vet J 1:69–75.
  6. Bahari A, Azami S, Goudarztalejerdi A, Karimi S, Esmaeili S, Chomel BB, Sazmand A. Molecular detection of zoonotic pathogens in the blood and tissues of camels (Camelus dromedarius) in Central Desert of Iran. The Yale J Biol and Med 94(2):249–258.
  7. Bennett SCJ, Kenny PAC. Mercuric chloride as a diagnostic agent for trypanosomiasis in camels. J Comp Pathol Ther 41:341–353.
    doi: 10.1016/S0368-1742(28)80035-Xgoogle scholar: lookup
  8. Brun R, Hecker H, Lun ZR. Trypanosoma evansi and T. equiperdum: distribution, biology, treatment and phylogenetic relationship (a review). Vet Parasitol 79:95–107.
    doi: 10.1016/S0304-4017(98)00146-0pubmed: 9806490google scholar: lookup
  9. Claes F, Radwanska M, Urakawa T, Majiwa PA, Goddeeris B, Buscher P. Variable surface glycoprotein RoTat 1.2 PCR as aspecific diagnostic tool for the detection of Trypanosoma evansi infections. Kinetoplastid Biol Dis 3:1–6.
    doi: 10.1186/1475-9292-3-3google scholar: lookup
  10. Carpentier GALE. Les services vétérinaires en Perse. Doctoral dissertation, Paris.
  11. Dehghani S. Swollen testicles in horses (Dourine). In: 3rd convention of Iranian veterinary clinicians, 29th –31st October, Mashhad, Iran.
  12. Desquesnes M, Holzmüller P, Lai DH, Dargantes A, Lun ZR, Jittaplapong S. Trypanosoma evansi and surra: a review and perspectives on origin, history, distribution, taxonomy, morphology, hosts, and pathogenic effects. BioMed Res Int 2013:1–22.
    doi: 10.1155/2013/194176google scholar: lookup
  13. Desquesnes M, Holzmuller P, Lai D-H. Trypanosoma evansi and surra: a review and perspectives on transmission, epidemiology and control, impact, and zoonotic aspects. Bio Med Res Int 2013.
    doi: 10.1155/2013/321237google scholar: lookup
  14. Desquesnes M, Gonzatti M, Sazmand A, Thévenon S, Bossard G, Boulangé A, Gimonneau G, Truc P, Herder S, Ravel S, Sereno D, Jamonneau V, Jittapalapong S, Jacquiet P, Solano P, Berthier D. A review on the diagnosis of animal trypanosomoses. Parasit Vectors 15:64.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-022-05190-1pubmed: 35183235pmc: 8858479google scholar: lookup
  15. Elhaig MM, Youssef AI, El-Gayar AK. Molecular and parasitological detection of Trypanosoma evansi in Camels in Ismailia, Egypt. Vet Parasitol 198:214–218.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2013.08.003pubmed: 24029715google scholar: lookup
  16. Ereqat S, Nasereddin A, Al-Jawabreh A, Al-Jawabreh H, Al-Laham N, Abdeen Z. Prevalence of Trypanosoma evansi in livestock in Palestine. Parasit Vectors 13:1–8.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-3894-9google scholar: lookup
  17. Fernández D, González-Baradat B, Eleizalde M, González-Marcano E, Perrone T, Mendoza M. Trypanosoma evansi: a comparison of PCR and parasitological diagnostic tests in experimentally infected mice. Exp Parasitol 121:1–7.
    doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2008.09.013pubmed: 18848544google scholar: lookup
  18. Fong IW. New and emerging parasitic zoonosis. In: Emerging zoonoses. Emerging infectious diseases of the 21st century. Springer, Cham, pp 211–239.
    doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-50890-0_11google scholar: lookup
  19. Geysen D, Delespaux V, Geerts S. PCR-RFLP using SSU rDNA amplification as an easy method for species-specific diagnosis of Trypanosoma species in cattle. Vet Parasitol 110:171–180.
    doi: 10.1016/S0304-4017(02)00313-8pubmed: 12482646google scholar: lookup
  20. Hall TA. BioEdit: a user-friendly biological sequence alignment editor and analysis program for Windows 95/98/NT. In: In Nucleic acids symposium series 41:95-98. Information Retrieval Ltd., London, pp c1979–c2000.
  21. Hashemi-Fesharaki R, Esmaeil-Nia K, Habibi GR, Sarkarzadeh P. Investigations on trypanosomosis in equine. In: Proceedings of the 1st national congress of equine health and diseases, 12th–14th November, Tehran Iran, pp 60–61.
  22. Herbert WJ, Lumsden WHR. Trypanosoma brucei: a rapid “matching” method for estimating the host's parasitemia. Exp Parasitol 40:427–431.
    doi: 10.1016/0014-4894(76)90110-7pubmed: 976425google scholar: lookup
  23. Homayounimehr A, Pakbin A, Momayyez R, Fatemi SMR. Detection and identification of infectious bronchitis virus by RT-PCR in Iran. Trop Anim Health Prod 48:973–978.
    doi: 10.1007/s11250-016-1040-7pubmed: 27010714google scholar: lookup
  24. Ijaz MK, Nur-E-Kamal MS, Mohamed AI, Dar FK. Comparative studies on the sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction and microscopic examination for the detection of Trypanosoma evansi in experimentally infected mice. Comp Immunol Microbiol Infect Dis 21:215–223.
    doi: 10.1016/s0147-9571(98)00002-2pubmed: 9681244google scholar: lookup
  25. Khalili KH. An investigation of dourine and isolation of Trypanosoma equiperdum in Iran. Arch Razi Inst 25:69–72.
    doi: 10.22092/ari.1973.108751google scholar: lookup
  26. Konnai S, Mekata H, Mingala CN. Development and application of a quantitative real-time PCR for the diagnosis of surra in water buffaloes. Infect Genet Evol 9:449–452.
    doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2009.01.006pubmed: 19460309google scholar: lookup
  27. Kostygov AY, Karnkowska A, Votýpka J, Tashyreva D, Maciszewski K, Yurchenko V, Lukeš J. Euglenozoa: taxonomy, diversity and ecology, symbioses and viruses. Open Biol 11(3).
    doi: 10.1098/rsob.200407google scholar: lookup
  28. Kumar S, Stecher G, Li M, Knyaz C, Tamura K. MEGA X: molecular evolutionary genetics analysis across computing platforms. Mol Biol Evol 35:1547.
    doi: 10.1093/molbev/msy09pubmed: 29722887pmc: 5967553google scholar: lookup
  29. Lingard A. Report on horse surra. Government Central Press, Bombay.
  30. Masiga DK, Smyth AJ, Hayes P, Bromidge TJ, Gibson WC. Sensitive detection of trypanosomes in tsetse flies by DNA amplification. Int J Parasitol 22:909–918.
    doi: 10.1016/0020-7519(92)90047-Opubmed: 1459784google scholar: lookup
  31. Mostafalo Y. Seroepidemiological study of dourine in equids. DVM Thesis. University of Tehran, Iran.
  32. Muieed MA, Chaudhary ZI, Shakoor AR. Comparative studieson the sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and microscopic examination for the detection of Trypanosoma evansi in horses. Turk J Vet Anim Sci 34(6):507–512.
    doi: 10.3906/vet-0806-22google scholar: lookup
  33. Ngaira JM, Njagi ENM, Ngeranwa JJN, Olembo NK. PCR amplification of RoTat1.2 VSG gene in Trypanosoma evansi isolates in Kenya. Vet Parasitol 120:23–33.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2003.12.007pubmed: 15019140google scholar: lookup
  34. Ngaira JM, Olembo NK, Njagi ENM, Ngeranwa JJN. The detection of non RoTat 1.2 Trypanosoma evansi. Exp Parasitol 110:30–38.
    doi: 10.1016/j.exppara.2005.01.001pubmed: 15804376google scholar: lookup
  35. Njiru ZK, Constantine CC, Masiga DK, Reid SA, Thompson RCA, Gibson WC. Characterization of Trypanosoma evansi type B. Infect Genet and Evol 6:292–300.
    doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2005.08.002google scholar: lookup
  36. WOAH. Terrestrial manual. Chapter 2.1.17. Trypanosoma evansi infection (surra). WOAH.
  37. WOAH. Terrestrial manual. Chapter 3.1.20. Trypanosoma evansi infection (surra). WOAH.
  38. Pruvot M, Kamyingkird K, Desquesnes M, Sarataphan N, Jittapalapong S. A comparison of six primer sets for detection of Trypanosoma evansi by polymerase chain reaction in rodents and Thai livestock. Vet Parasitol 171:185–193.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.04.001pubmed: 20466489google scholar: lookup
  39. Putra RS, Arrunillah D, Fitria F, Ripki N. Measurement of gas bubbles distribution on electroflotation process using titanium and stainless steel electrode with DinoCapture 2.0. In: 2021 IEEE International Conference on Health, Instrumentation & Measurement, and Natural Sciences (InHeNce), pp 1–5.
    doi: 10.1109/InHeNce52833.2021.9537227google scholar: lookup
  40. Salim B, Bakheit MA, Kamau J, Nakamural I, Sugimoto C. Molecular epidemiology of camel trypanosomiasis based on ITS1rDNA and RoTat 1.2 VSG gene in the Sudan. Parasit Vectors 4:1–5.
    doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-4-31google scholar: lookup
  41. Sazmand A, Joachim A. Parasitic diseases of camels in Iran (1931–2017) – a literature review. Parasite 24:21.
    doi: 10.1051/parasite/2017024pubmed: 28617666pmc: 5479402google scholar: lookup
  42. Sazmand A, Bahari A, Papi S, Otranto D. Parasitic diseases of equids in Iran (1931–2020): a literature review. Parasit Vectors 13:586.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04472-wpubmed: 33213507pmc: 7676409google scholar: lookup
  43. Sazmand A, Desquesnes M, Otranto D. Trypanosoma evansi. Trends Parasitol 38:489–490.
    doi: 10.1016/j.pt.2021.12.010pubmed: 35058152google scholar: lookup
  44. Sengupta PP, Balumahendirana M, Suryanaryanab W, Raghaven-dra AG, Shomea BR, Gajendragada MR, Prabhudas K. PCR-based diagnosis of surra-targeting VSG gene: experimental studies in small laboratory rodents and buffalo. Vet Parasitol 171:22–31.
    doi: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2010.03.011pubmed: 20388585google scholar: lookup
  45. Tehseen S, Jahan N, Fiaz M, Desquesnes M, Shahzad MI, Deborggraeve S, Büscher P. Parasitological, serological and molecular survey of Trypanosoma evansi infection in dromedary camels from Cholistan Desert, Pakistan. Parasit Vectors 8:413–415.
    doi: 10.1186/s13071-015-1002-3google scholar: lookup
  46. Urakawa T, Verloo D, Moens L, Büscher P, Majiwa PA. Trypanosoma evansi: cloning and expression in Spodoptera frugiperda insect cells of the diagnostic antigen RoTat 1.2. Exp Parasitol 99:181–189.
    doi: 10.1006/expr.2001.4670pubmed: 11888244google scholar: lookup
  47. Verloo D, Magnus E, Büscher P. General expression of RoTat 12 variable antigen type in Trypanosoma evansi isolates from different origin. Vet Parasitol 97:185–191.
    doi: 10.1016/S0304-4017(01)00412-5google scholar: lookup

Citations

This article has been cited 2 times.
  1. Hacilarlioglu S, Bilgic HB, Karagenc T, Aydin HB, Toker H, Kanlioglu H, Pekagirbas M, Bakirci S. Molecular Detection and Prevalence of Equine Piroplasmosis and Other Blood Parasites in Equids of Western Aegean Türkiye. Vet Sci 2025 Aug 27;12(9).
    doi: 10.3390/vetsci12090826pubmed: 41012752google scholar: lookup
  2. Shoraba M, Shoulah SA, Arnaout F, Selim A. Equine Trypanosomiasis: Molecular Detection, Hematological, and Oxidative Stress Profiling. Vet Med Int 2024;2024:6550276.
    doi: 10.1155/2024/6550276pubmed: 39184948google scholar: lookup
Subscribe to our newsletter
Join 99,658 horse owners like you who receive our email updates on horse health and nutrition.