1. Anaplasma phagocytophilum in horses and ticks: a preliminary survey of Central Italy.
- Author
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Passamonti F, Veronesi F, Cappelli K, Capomaccio S, Coppola G, Marenzoni ML, Piergili FD, Verini SA, and Coletti M
- Subjects
- Anaplasma phagocytophilum immunology, Animals, Ehrlichiosis immunology, Ehrlichiosis microbiology, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Direct, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect, Horse Diseases immunology, Horse Diseases microbiology, Horses immunology, Italy epidemiology, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S analysis, Seroepidemiologic Studies, Ticks immunology, Anaplasma phagocytophilum isolation & purification, Ehrlichiosis epidemiology, Ehrlichiosis veterinary, Horse Diseases epidemiology, Horses microbiology, Ticks microbiology
- Abstract
Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the causative agent of granulocytic ehrlichiosis, affects several species of wild and domesticated mammals, including horses. In this work we compared direct and indirect methods to evaluate A. phagocytophilum presence in Central Italy: 135 sera were screened by IFA for A. phagocytophilum and other haemopathogens (Theileria equi and Babesia caballi). Each horse was also tested for A. phagocytophilum 16S rRNA with a nested-PCR technique. In order to examine the risk of A. phagocytophilum transmission, 114 ticks were examined for the presence of A. phagocytophilum by PCR targeting the 16S rRNA. The seroprevalence against A. phagocytophilum was 17.03% and 11 horses (8.14%) showed positive PCR results. The concordance rate of A. phagocytophilum detection between IFAT and PCR had a K value of 0.34.
- Published
- 2010
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