AUTHOR=Corduneanu Alexandra , Taulescu Marian , Ursache Teodor Dan , Ionică Angela Monica , Mihalca Andrei Daniel 

TITLE=Piroplasms in farmed American bison, Bison bison from Romania

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Veterinary Science

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/veterinary-science/articles/10.3389/fvets.2023.1158072

DOI=10.3389/fvets.2023.1158072

ISSN=2297-1769

ABSTRACT=<p>The American bison (<italic>Bison bison</italic>) is the largest terrestrial mammal of North America, with around 350,000 individuals in the wild and in private herds but the knowledge regarding the presence of different vector-borne pathigens in these mammals is very poor. <italic>Babesia</italic> and <italic>Theileria</italic> spp. are tick-borne apicomplexan parasites which are considered to be among the most commonly found blood parasites of large ruminants, often with a high economic importance. However, the knowledge on piroplasms of bisons is extremely scarce. The aim of our study was to evaluate the presence of apicomplexan parasites in blood and tissues of farmed American bison from Romania. Overall, we tested 222 blood samples and 11 tissues samples (heart, liver, and spleen) from farmed <italic>B. bison</italic> raised for meat in Romania. All the samples were analyzed by nPCR targeting the <italic>18SrRNA</italic> gene for piroplasmids. All positive samples were sequenced and analyzed phylogenetically. The overall prevalence of infection with piroplasmids in American bison was 1.65%, with <italic>Babesia divergens</italic> and <italic>Theileria</italic> sp. identified following sequencing. To our knowledge, this is the first report of piroplasms detected in blood and tissues of farmed <italic>B. bison</italic> from Europe. Further studies are necessary in order to obtain a better overview on the epidemiological status and clinical relevance of piroplasms in farmed American bisons.</p>