Abstract
Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. are tick-transmitted bacteria that are of significant economic importance as they can infect large and small ruminants and also people. There is little information on anaplasmosis and ehrlichiosis in ruminants in China. 16S rRNA FRET-qPCRs were used to screen convenience whole blood samples from 2,240 domestic ruminants in 12 provinces of China for Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. Positive samples were further analyzed with a standard PCR for the gltA. Anaplasma spp. DNA was detected in the sheep (11.7%; 13/111), goats (81.8%; 219/270), cattle (13.2%; 241/1,830), and water buffaloes (6.9%; 2/29). Ehrlichia spp. DNA was detected in sheep (1.8%; 2/111), goats (1.1%; 3/270), and cattle (3.6%; 65/1830) but not in water buffaloes (0/29). Sequencing of gltA PCR products showed that A. marginale, A. ovis, Ehrlichia canis, and Ehrlichia sp. (JX629807) were present in ruminants from China, while the 16S rRNA FRET-qPCR sequence data indicated that there might also be A. platys, A. phagocytophilum, Anaplasma sp. BL126-13 (KJ410243), and Anaplasma sp. JC3-6 (KM227012). Our study shows that domestic ruminants from China are not uncommonly infected with a variety of Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp.
Highlights
Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. are tick-transmitted, intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are important animal and human pathogens
Representative sequences were deposited in GenBank for A. phagocytophilum (KX279691) and A. marginale (KX279690)
Other Anaplasma spp. we detected in goats were A. ovis (KX279688) in Xinjiang (2), A. platys (KX279689) in Jiangsu (2), and a poorly characterized Anaplasma sp. (KM227012) in Jiangsu (5)
Summary
Anaplasma spp. and Ehrlichia spp. are tick-transmitted, intracellular Gram-negative bacteria that are important animal and human pathogens. The major pathogenic Ehrlichia species are E. canis, E. chaffeensis, E. ewingii, E. muris, and E. ruminantium [2] with the latter causing heartwater in domestic ruminants. This disease is prevalent in Africa, where it causes high mortality (up to 90%) and extensive economic losses [3]. A. phagocytophilum has been reported in ruminants (sheep and cattle) in Henan and Xinjiang as well as in dogs and ticks [1, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14], and A. platys has been detected in red deer and sika deer from Gansu province [4]. In the case of Ehrlichia spp. in ruminants in China, an unclassified species has been reported in cattle in Tibet [15] and E. canis, a species that infects dogs worldwide, has been reported in sika deer from Gansu [4]
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