Prevalence and associated risk factors of haemoparasites in the Balochistani dromedaries

Balochistan is the largest province of Pakistan where 40% of total camel population is present. People in Balochistan mostly use camel for milking, meat, draught and irrigation purposes to meet their socio-economic needs. Though the camel is a resistant animal, it may get affected by parasitic infections leading to reduced performance. The knowledge regarding occurrence of hemoparasites in camels is still unrevealed, especially in Balochistan. To this end, 384 blood samples were collected from camels from five districts of Zhob division through simple random sampling method. Samples were subjected to microscopic examination which showed 7.55% and 7.03% prevalence of Babesia and Theileria spp., respectively. Furthermore, the 18S rRNA gene of these parasites was amplified through PCR which showed prevalence rate of 25% and 21.35% in case of Babesia and Theileria spp., respectively. Sequence analysis of amplicons confirmed these parasites as B. caballi and T. annulata, Phylogeny of these parasites showed that they were included in a separate clade. Among different factors, the prevalence of these parasites was higher in female animals (Babesia (B)=27.30%, Theileria (T)=23.75%) and the animals with >5 year of age (B=27.27%, T=22.52%). Furthermore, the prevalence was significantly higher (p<0.05) in pregnant camels as compared to lactating and dry animals. Results of this study provide a systematic epidemiological data on the occurrence of Babesia and Theileria spp. in camel population in Balochistan.