Some studies on prevalence and effect of Thieleria infection on erythrocytes profile in camel in some localities at New-Valley, Governorate, Egypt

Theileria spp is a protozoan parasite infecting wild and domestic animals throughout the world and affect the healthy state of the infected animals. Therefore, this study was carried to evaluate the effects of natural infection of camels with Theileria spp on blood picture and efficacy of indirect fluorescent antibody technique in the diagnosis of this infection. The blood samples were collected from125 apparently healthy dromedary camels aged 1-9 years, held in some localities in New-Valley Governorate and classified into two groups according to infection, the first group is suspected clinically infected and considered as infected group (100 camels) and the remaining number (25) was clinically and laboratory healthy and considered as a control group where all of them were examined by thin blood smear, fecal examination and indirect fluorescent antibody technique. Thin blood smears revealed that 9 out of 100 camels were positive for Theileria spp in ratio of 9% while indirect fluorescent antibody technique revealed that 11out of 100 camels were positive (11%), with one sample as false negative and 3 samples as false positive. Therefore, the indirect fluorescent technique remains the most convenient test for theileria spp diagnosis in camels. Hematological analysis revealed a significant decrease in PCV, HB, RBCs count with a significant increase in MCV, MCH and MCHC in infected group when compared with the control one. The frequency of theileriosis in camels is low and Theileria spp do not seem to induce a significant alteration in clinical signs of naturally-infected dromedary camels but by laboratory means a significant decrease in hematological parameters which translated to anemia was resulted