@article{Belkahia_Ben Said_Sayahi_Alberti_Messadi_2015, title={Detection of novel strains genetically related to Anaplasma platys in Tunisian one-humped camels (Camelus dromedarius)}, volume={9}, url={https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/26517487}, DOI={10.3855/jidc.6950}, abstractNote={<p class="SmallText">Introduction: Little information is currently available regarding the presence of <em>Anaplasma </em>species in North African dromedaries. To fill this gap in knowledge, the prevalence, risk factors, and genetic diversity of <em>Anaplasma</em> species were investigated in Tunisian dromedary camels.</p> <p class="SmallText">Methodology: A total of 226 camels from three different bioclimatic areas were sampled and tested for the presence of <em>Anaplasma</em> species by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and nested polymerase chain reaction (nPCR) assays. Detected <em>Anaplasma</em> strains were characterized by 16S rRNA sequence analysis.</p> <p class="SmallText">Results: Overall infection rate of <em>Anaplasma</em> spp. was 17.7%, and was significantly higher in females. Notably, <em>A. marginale</em>, <em>A. centrale</em>, <em>A. bovis</em>, and <em>A. phagocytophilum</em> were not detected. Animals were severely infested by three tick species belonging to the genus <em>Hyalomma</em> (<em>H. dromedarii</em>, <em>H. impeltatum</em>, and <em>H. excavatum</em>). Alignment, similarity comparison, and phylogenetic analysis of the 16S rRNA sequence variants obtained in this study suggest that Tunisian dromedaries are infected by more than one novel <em>Anaplasma </em>strain genetically related to <em>A. platys</em>.</p> <p class="SmallText">Conclusions: This study reports the presence of novel <em>Anaplasma </em>sp. strains genetically related to <em>A. platys </em>in dromedaries from various bioclimatic areas of Tunisia. Findings raise new concerns about the specificity of the direct and indirect diagnostic tests routinely used to detect different <em>Anaplasma</em> species in ruminants and provide useful molecular information to elucidate the evolutionary history of bacterial species related to <em>A. platys</em>.</p>}, number={10}, journal={The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries}, author={Belkahia, Hanène and Ben Said, Mourad and Sayahi, Lotfi and Alberti, Alberto and Messadi, Lilia}, year={2015}, month={Oct.}, pages={1117–1125} }