Climatic Regions Based Molecular Prevalence of Babesiosis and Theileriosis in Cattle and Water- Buffalo in Pakistan

Abstract This study was carried out to report prevalence of Babesia (B.) bigemina and Theileria (T.) annulata in cattle and water-buffalo (WB) from southern sandy zone (SSZ), central plain zone (CPZ), and northern arid zone (NAZ) of Pakistan in relation with breed, sex, age, housing system, season and feed. Towards this end, 6,510 blood samples (n = 2,170/each zone) were collected from suspected cattle and WB and were subjected to Giemsa staining and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Logistic regression and odds ratios were applied for data analysis. Babesiosis and theileriosis was found highest (P < 0.05) in SSZ followed in order by NAZ and CPZ. Prevalence of theileriosis was observed higher than babesiosis and more common in cattle than WB. Prevalence of Babesiosis and theileriosis in cattle in Holstein Friesian (HF) breed, young age (> 16 months), tethered housing system, during summer season and in non-supplemented fed of cattle was found significant (P < 0.05). Prevalence of Babesia and Theileria in WB in Kundi breed, young age, tethered housing system, during summer season was found significant (P  1.00). The present studies provide evidence on endimicity of babesiosis and theirleriosis in the study area and naturally resilience of WB.