Abstract:

Objective: Equine granulocytic anaplasmosis (EGA) caused by Anaplasma phagocytophilum is a disease that generally develop characteristic high fever and a number of changes in blood such as thrombocytopenia. The main transmission of A. phagocytophilum is hard ticks through intrastadially. The aim of this study was to determine the presence of A. phagocytophilum in horses in Muş province of Turkey by using molecular methods. Methods: In the present survey, blood samples were collected in Muş province from 93 horse. Commercial ELISA kit (IgG) and nested-PCR were performed. The DNA was extracted from blood and analysed by nested-PCR technique targeting 16S rRNA gene of A. phagocytophilum and then positive PCR products were sequenced. Results: The seroprevalence against A. phagocytophilum was 8.6% and 6 horses (6.4%) showed positive nested-PCR results. The sequences had 99.5 and 100% homology with the BLAST published A. phagocytophilum amplicons. Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first molecular data of A. phagocytophilum in horses in Muş province of Turkey. This study also reveals that A. phagocytophilum isolates isolated from a small region are closely related to A. phagocytophilum isolated from a wide variety of hosts.