The Relationship Among Injury, Leucocyte Count And Molecular Diversity Of Theileria In Zebra’s In Naivasha-Kenya

ABSTRACT

Understanding the interrelationships between injury, infection and diversity of Theileria in a zebra population may illuminate the mechanisms by which injuries influence the course of latent infections, and may be an important factor to be considered during therapy of injured animals. Currently, the molecular diversity of Theileria species that are circulating in Kenyan free living common zebras is unknown and the effect of anthropogenic induced injuries on Theileria diversity and infection patterns are poorly known. Moreover, zebras are considered maintenance or reservoir hosts for Theileria equi infecting domestic equines such as donkeys and horses. The objectives of this study were; to examine and evaluate molecular genetic diversity of Theileria sp infecting injured and healthy free living zebra’s from different localities in Naivasha. Examine the leucocyte differential cell count in injured and healthy zebra. Evaluate the influence of Theileria infection on the leucocyte differential count in zebra. Theileria infecting Zebra was detected and characterized using PCR amplification and sequencing of the 18S ribosomal gene from parasite DNA extracted from host blood. Leucocyte differential of injured and healthy zebra was examined using microscopy of blood smears. All 81 zebras examined yielded positive PCR results using gel electrophoresis. Seventy-nine clean sequences were obtained and blast results were closely matched Theileria equi. There were 3 Theileria equi haplotypes circulating among zebra in Naivasha. Haplotype 2 was the most common Theileria haplotype infecting zebras with a prevalence of 90.63% in injured animals and 66.67% in non-injured animals. There was genetic differentiation in terms of the frequency of haplotypes infecting injured compared to non-injured Zebra (FST=0.732, P