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ARS Home » Plains Area » Kerrville, Texas » Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory » Cattle Fever Tick Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #376582
Research Project: Integrated Pest Management of Cattle Fever Ticks

Location: Cattle Fever Tick Research Unit

Title: First record of natural infection with Anaplasma marginale in sucking lice infesting the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Mexico

Author
item HERNÁNDEZ-VELASCO, ALEJANDRA - University Of Veracruzana
item SÁNCHEZ-MONTES, SOKANI - University Of Veracruzana
item ROMERO-SALAS, DORA - University Of Veracruzana
item CRUZ-ROMERO, ANABEL - University Of Veracruzana
item JIMÉNEZ-HERNÁNDEZ, JOSE' - University Of Veracruzana
item BECKER, INGEBORG - Faculty Of Veterinary Medicine And Zootechnics
item AGUILAR-DOMÍNGUEZ, MARIEL - University Of Veracruz
item Perez De Leon, Adalberto - Beto

Submitted to: Parasitology Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/14/2020
Publication Date: 6/25/2020
Citation: Hernández-Velasco, A., Sánchez-Montes, S., Romero-Salas, D., Cruz-Romero, A., Jiménez-Hernández, J., Becker, I., Aguilar-Domínguez, M., Perez De Leon, A.A. 2020. First record of natural infection with Anaplasma marginale in sucking lice infesting the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) in Mexico. Parasitology Research. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06772-7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-020-06772-7

Interpretive Summary: Water buffalo is an alternative species for livestock raising in some parts of the world. This report is part our studies on external parasites that infest the water buffalo in Mexico. Eight out of 42 water buffaloes evaluated for external parasites in the state of Veracruz, Mexico were infested with sucking lice. A molecular test was combined with observations using a microscope to identify the sucking lice as Haematopinus tuberculatus. Out of the total 20 sucking lice collected from the 8 infested buffaloes, 70% (14/20) were positive with a molecular test for the bacterium Anaplasma marginale, which in cattle causes the disease known as anaplasmosis associated with severe anemia. Ours is the first report in Mexico of A. marginale infection in H. tuberculatus infesting water buffaloes. Losses caused by anaplasmosis can have a serious negative economic impact on farmers that rely on cattle and buffalo for their livelihood.

Technical Abstract: The water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is an Asian species of bovine which was introduced in Mexico in 1992, as an alternative for milk and meat production. However little is known about its associated ectoparasites, in particular about their lice. As a part of a project to identify the diversity and prevalence of Anaplasma in cattle and water buffaloes in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, we visited a ranch in the downtown area in which 42 buffaloes were visually inspected for the presence of ectoparasites. Lice were manually recovered, and morphologically identified using taxonomic specialized keys. They were also molecularly identified by the amplification of a fragment of the Cytochrome oxidase subunit I (CO1X) gene. Additionally, we realized the molecular detection of several rickettsial agents. As a result, we recovered 20 lice from eight animals. All lice were identified as Haematopinus tuberculatus, and the recovered sequences exhibited a similarity of 99.7% with those of the same species deposited in Genbank. Additionally, we detected the presence of Anaplasma marginale in 70% (14/20) of the analyzed samples. Our results represent the first record of this exotic ectoparasite for the country and provide new evidence of the possible role of these organisms as potential vectors of A. marginale.