Molecular, epidemiological and haematological evaluation in Theileria orientalis infected cattle from an endemic region in India

The objective of the present study was to investigate the epidemiological and haematological parameters with simultaneous molecular detection of Theileria orientalis infection of crossbred jersey (CBJ) cattle. Haematological values like mean hemoglobin (Hb) (7.31 +/- 2.3 g/dl), packed cell volume (PCV) (21.69 +/- 6.11%), red blood cells count (RBCs) (4.40 +/- 1.6 M/mu l), white blood cells count (WBCs) (6.93 +/- 3.06 103/mu l) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (33.56 +/- 3.51 g/dl) were decreased significantly (p < 0.05), whereas mean corpuscular volume (MCV) (51.06 +/- 6.14fl) and eosinophil count (0.39 +/- 0.44 103/mu l) were significantly (p < 0.05) increased in cattle infected with T. orientalis. Analysis of major piroplasm surface protein (MPSP) of 110 blood samples randomly collected from cattle from seven districts by PCR indicated that an average of 70% of cattle was positive for T. orientalis infection. In particular, Puri and Khorda districts were identified as relatively high-risk areas for T. orientalis infection, with infection rates of 76.66% and 72.4%, respectively. The phylogenetic analysis of isolated T. orientalis MPSP gene (MN334767) classified it into type 5. Earlier Indian isolates were classified into three types viz.type 1, type 3 and type 7 and this is the first time to detect type 5 in Odisha, India.