Abstract
Objective:This study aimed to inspect the occurrence of Haemoproteus tinnunculi (H. tinnunculi) in falcons from the central area of Saudi Arabia.Materials and Methods:Blood samples from 100 falcons species, including 55 Falco cherrug, 22 Falco peregrinus, 13 Falco pelegrinoides, and 10 Falco rusticolus, were collected from November 2018 to April 2019 and examined for H. tinnunculi by microscopic examination and nested PCR, targeting a cytochrome b (cytb) gene.Results:The prevalence was 1% by microscopic examination. The prevalence rate of H. tinnunculi was 1% by the microscopic method and 3% by PCR. Only F. cherrug was infected. In the sequence and phylogenetic analyses, the two cytb H. tinnunculi sequences were 100% identical and closely related to the Lithuanian isolate with 99.35% identity.Conclusions:This study presents the first report of molecular detection and characterization of H. tinnunculai in F. cherrug from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Highlights
Haemosporida parasites infect a diversity of avian groups and are transmitted by blood-sucking insects
The infection with H. tinnunculi was detected in one blood sample collected from F. cherrug by microscopic examination of blood smears, giving a prevalence rate of 1%
One falcon from Riyadh showed the infection by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with phylogenetically unique H. tinnunculi, whereas all falcons were negative by blood smear examination (Table 1)
Summary
Haemosporida parasites infect a diversity of avian groups and are transmitted by blood-sucking insects. There are three main genera (Haemoproteus, Plasmodium, and Leucocytozoon) identified in birds, and each genus has many species [1,2,3]. Vector activity, and bird migration are risk factors associated with distributing these blood parasites within or between temperate, subtropical, and tropical regions, they are diverse in tropical countries [1,4,5,6,7]. In Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Plasmodium and Haemoproteus parasites were recorded in the Skink lizard and saker falcons, respectively [10,11], their prevalence is rare. The genus Haemoproteus includes 128 species, mostly pathogenic in domestic birds, leading to various clinical signs, such as vomiting, depression, and tremors [12,13,14]
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