Morphological and Molecular Investigation of Anaplasma Infection in Dromedary Camel (Camelus dromedarius) in Bushehr Province, Iran

 BACKGROUND: Anaplasmosis is caused by an obligate intracellular, gram-negative microorganism, which be-longs to the family Anaplasmatacea and can be transmitted by ticks and other arthropods. OBJECTIVES: The present study aimed to investigate the status of Anaplasma spp. infection by microscopy and molecular methods in dromedary camels in Bushehr province, Iran. METHODS: A total of ۱۳۹ blood samples were collected from dromedary camels in Bushehr province. Giemsa staining and nested-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were conducted to detect Anaplasma infection in the drome-dary camels. RESULTS: We found that ۲۷ (۱۹.۴%) out of the total ۱۳۹ blood samples were suspected for the presence of Ana-plasma spp. by morphological study. The PCR and nested-PCR sequencing results showed ۱۱۱ (۸۰%) and ۱۳۴ (۹۶%) samples positive for Anaplasma spp. and BLAST search in NCBI GenBank presented ۱۰۰% identity with Candidatus Anaplasma camelii. CONCLUSIONS: The molecular results presented the high frequency of Candidatus Anaplasma camelii in camels, in Bushehr city.

Keywords:

Anaplasma , Candidatus Anaplasma camelii , Dromedary camel , Molecular study , Nested-PCR