DIAGNOSTIC STUDY OF EIMERIA SPECIES IN EQUIDS IN MOSUL CITY

Assiut University web-site: www.aun.edu.eg

DIAGNOSTIC STUDY OF EIMERIA SPECIES IN EQUIDS IN MOSUL CITY

HAITHAM S ALBAKRI BAYDAA Y. AL-LAHAIBI AND E.G.SULEIMAN

Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul,

 Mosul, Iraq 

Received: 1 October 2020;     Accepted: 10 October 2020

INTRODUCTION

The infection with intestinal protozoa of Eimeria genus considered as the main important parasitic disease invading the intestinal epithelial cells of domesticated animals causing coccidiosis with high economic losses (Jader, 2011). There  are   many   species     of    Eimeria

Corresponding author: E.G.SULEIMAN

E-mail address: emanghanim73@gmail.com

Present address: Department of Microbiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq 

which infect the equids family, i.e. Eimeria leuckarti, E. solipedum and E. uniungulati (Soulsby, 1986). However, only E.leuckarti is a valid species infecting equids including horses, donkeys and zebra while E.solipedum and E.uniungulati represent spurious parasites, because the latter species were not detected is several research conducted in different countries (Dubey and Bauer, 2010). Some authors referred that the infection with Eimeria spp are highly distributed in many countries and the percentage of infection with E.leuckarti in several countries has been ranging from 2-80% (Barker et al., 1993, Barkirci et al, 2004 Gundlach et al., 2004, Lyons et al., 2004, Uslu and Guclu, 2007)

In Iraq, there are numerous studies conducted on different gastrointestinal helminthes in equids in different cities (Yaecob et al., 1988, Al Khafaji and Al-Saad, 1996, Abdul- Majeed, 2004, Alammara et al., 2008). Notably, Local studies related to the prevalence and classification of Eimeria species in various spp. of equids  family are very little with the exception of Al-alousi et al., 1994 in Mosul city, Alharis, 2001 in Baghdad city and Wannas et al., 2012 in Al-Diwaniyah city with the total  percentages of infection with Eimeria spp 4%, 10.96%, 6.81%, 10.71% respectively .

The aim of this study was to classify of Eimeria genus and species in horses and donkeys with determination their occurrence in Mosul city.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

One hundred fecal samples, (50) samples from horses and (50) samples from donkeys were collected randomly from different regions of Mosul city.

The animals were of local breeds of both sex aged between 5 months to 10 years depending upon their dentition the general health status of these animals vary between apparently healthy and intact to those suffering from diarrhea and emaciation.

The fecal samples were collected directly from the rectums of the animals and were placed in labeled plastic containers and were sent to the laboratory of parasitology in the college of veterinary medicine university of Mosul. The samples were microscopically examined by using direct and concentration methods, the latter technique includes flotation method using Sheather's sugar saturated solution and sedimentation method using tap water (Hendrix, 1998).

The identification and definition of the oocysts of equine Eimeria were based on orphometric characteristic of each oocyst of Eimeria species applying ocular micrometer which were followed by (Soulsby, 1986, Batelli et al., 1995).   

RESULTS

The results of this study revealed that the total percentage of infection with Eimeria spp in equids was 24%, including 16% and 32% in horses and donkeys respectively. Statistical analysis of the infection rates showed that no significant differences appeared between horses and donkeys Table (1).

Table 1: Number of fecal samples and percentage of infection with Eimeria spp in horses and donkeys

Males of horses showed higher percentage of infection than the female (16.66%) while females of donkeys showed higher percentage of infection than the males (36.84%). However statistical analysis showed no significant differences between males and females of horses and donkeys Table (2).

Table 2: The relationship between the percentage of infection with Eimeria spp and sex of animals.

The Horses and donkeys less than one year old showed the highest rate of infection which were 37.5% and 42.85%, respectively while the lowest rate were detected in horses and donkeys more than 3year old which were 10% and 25%, respectively. There were no significant differences appeared between all ages of inspected animals (Table 3).

Table 3: The relationship between the percentage of infection with Eimeria spp and age of animals.

The study indicated that horses were infected wih E.leuckarti and E.uniungulati while donkeys were infected with E. leuckarti, E.uniungulati and E.solipedum. Eimeria leuckarti formed the highest percentage of infection in the fecal samples of horses and donkeys which were 75% and 56.25%,respectively (Table 4) Morphologically. E.leuckarti were appeared as ovoid with narrow end, thick wall oocyst, dark brown  with distinct micropyle (Fig. 1) Their sizes range between (79.5-86.4) × (55-60) µm with mean of 81×56 µm (Table 5), E.uniungulati appeared as ovoid, bright orange (Fig2) and their  sizes range between (16.8-21.6 × 12-14.4) µm  with mean of 19.8 × 13.2 µm (Table 5). The description of E.solipedum were a  round having double wall layer, yellowish brown  in color with no micropyle  (Fig. 3) and their sizes  were (19.2 - 26.4) µmwith mean of  21.6 µm (Table 5).

Table 4: Species of Eimeria identified in infected equines.

Table 5: Characteristic features and measurements of oocysts of Eimeria spp diagnosed in fecal samples of equines.

Fig. 1: oocyst of E.leuckarti (400x, using digital camera)

Fig. 2: oocyst of E. uniungulati (400x, using digital camera)

Fig. 3: oocyst of E.solipedum (400x, using digital camera)

Infection with one species of Eimeria was formed the highest infection rates in each horses and donkeys which were 87.5% and 62.5% respectively. The percentage of mixed infections with more than two species of Eimeria were between 12.5% and 37.5%. Statistical analysis showed no significant differences between single and mixed infections of Eimeria in each of horses and donkeys (Table 6)

Table (6) Types of infection with Eimeria species in horses and donkeys

DISCUSSION

According to the fecal examination of equids, the total percentage of infection with Eimeria spp was 24% forming 16% and 32% in the horses and donkeys respectively.

These results were in disagreement with those of some authors in different  areas of Iraq  which were 10.96% in horses of Mosul city (Alalousi et al., 1994), 4% in horses of Baghdad (Alharis, 2001) and 6.8% in horses and 10.71% in donkeys of Al-Diwanyah city (Wannas et al., 2012). Similarly, our findings were inconsistent with a study carried out in Turkey mentioned that 6.35% if donkeys were infected by the parasite (Tudor, 2010).

The variations in the infection rates with oocysts of Eimeria spp obtained in this study may be related to the several factors such as number of samples examined, ecological and environment of conditions, biological agents, and techniques of examination applied.

High percentage of infection with Eimeria spp was noticed in male horses (16.66%) and in female donkeys (36.48 %) with no significant differences between them.

Males and females of animals may be affected equally to the predisposing factors and other researcher referred that the sex of animals has no any effective role in infection with oocyst of Eimeria (Al-Bakri, 2002). These results were similar with Wannas et al., 2012 Ali et al., 2005  they referred that no significant differences could appear between different sexes of animals
(horses, donkeys, sheep  and rabbits) respectively.

However in Egypt, Attia et al., 2018 found that eight males and two female working donkeys were infected by E. leuckarti Furthermore, Jadder, 2011 indicated that the hormones of males and females have no effect on the percentage of infection with Eimeria spp and the infection with this parasites may be related to the number of examined animals and condition of the management and environment rather than other factors.

In table (3) the high rate of infection with oocyst of Eimeria was noticed in animals aged less than one year which were 37.5% and 42.8% respectively with no significant differences between horses and donkeys. In contrast these results were in harmony with Lyons et al., 2006 On the other hand, these results were in contrast with Wannas et al. (2012) who found significant differences in the, percentage of infections in different ages of horses and donkeys, Wheeldon, 1977 indicated that coccidian are a common incidental finding in normal healthy foals aged 30-125 days and suggests that this organism does not cause clinical signs in foals.

lyons et al. (2007) found that presence of E.leuckarti is more in young animals. Nevertheless, some researchers stated that the age of animals may play an important role in the occurrence of coccidiosis and the intensity of the disease occurs in young ages with gradual decrease of occurrence in growing and adult animals (Radostits et al., 2007, Yakhchali and Zarei, 2008), Contexually, Beelitz et al., 1994 suggested that foals may become infected from the first day of birth.

In this study horses were found to be infected with E.leuckarti, E.uningulati while the donkeys were found to be infected with E.leuckarti, E.uningulati and E.solipedum. Eiemeria leuckarti were detected as the most predominant species in the fecal samples of horses and donkeys which were 75% and 56.25%, respectively.

According to our best information, identification of coccidian and their occurrences in equine family are poorly studied and local studies one few and scarce, needing further comprehensive work. Soulsby, (2) and Dubey et al. (2010) showed that there is substantial confusion about validity of Eimeria species in equids. Consecutively, three species of Eimeria viz., E.solipedum, E.uniungulati and E.leackarti were nominated from horses and E.leuckarti is the only valid species infecting equids horses, donkeys and zebras while E.solipedum, E.uniungulati and Isospora are serving as spurious parasites causing accidental contamination with coccidia from other hosts leading to create a condition known as false temporary or periodic parasites.

The findings of the present study were in accordance with (Wheeldon, 1077, Lyons and Tolliver, 2018) who reported the presence of 3 species of Eimeria in equids. They considered that E. leuckarti as valid and common coccidial oocysts diagnosed in the feces of equines , in the same context  they explained that E.solipedum and E.uniungulati are spurious parasites (invalid) because these species could not be found in subsequent surveys carried out worldwide (Dubey JP, Bauer 2010). Additionally, spurious coccidian or unidentified Eimeria spp were also reported from horses in Srilanka (Dissanayake et al., 2017).

In the current study the percentage of infection with E.leackarti in horses and donkeys were 75% and 56.25%, respectively. The oocyst of E.leackarti have been reported in feces of equids from many countries with different percentage of infection, such as 2.9% (in horses), 4.1% (donkeys) in Albania (Postoli et al., 2010), 17.5% (in horses) in Rio de Janeiro state (Spits dos Santos et al., 2014) 7.7% in horses and donkeys in southwest Iran (Karimi ghahfarrokhi et al., 2014). Studzinska et al. (2008) revealed that there was widespread of E.leackarti infection in several countries which is ranging from 2% - 80%.

Infection with one species of Eimeria formed the highest infection rate in horses and donkeys which were 87.5% and 62.5%, respectively some studies performed on determination of species of Eimeria in different hosts showed that infection with more than one species of Eimeria composed high percentage (Soulsby 1986). It is known that infection with one or more than one species of Eimeria depends on several agents such as degree of contamination of the pasture, stress, level of immunity of the animals, age of animals and lastly pathogenicity of the species of Eimeria as mentioned by a worker (Ali et al., 2005).

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