A Seroepidemiological Survey ofandin Horses in Mongolia.

Abstract

Equine piroplasmosis caused byandis an economically important disease with a worldwide distribution. The objective of the present study was to investigate the seroepidemiology ofandin horses reared in various Mongolian provinces. Serum samples prepared from blood collected from horses in 19 Mongolian provinces were screened for antibodies specific toandusing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays based on recombinant forms ofmerozoite antigen-2 and the48-kDa merozoite rhoptry protein, respectively. Of 1,282 horses analyzed, 423 (33%) and 182 (14.2%) were sero-positive forand, respectively. Additionally, 518 (40.4%) were positive for at least 1 parasite species, of which 87 (16.8%) were co-infected with both parasites. Bothandwere detected in all surveyed provinces, and on a per province basis the positive rates ranged from 19.0 to 74.2% and 4.5 to 39.8%, respectively.- and-positive rates were comparable between male horses (31.9 and 14.1%, respectively) and female horses (34.5 and 14.3%, respectively). However, the positive rates were higher in the >3-yr-old age group (37.7 and 15.6%, respectively) compared with the 1-3-yr-old age group (19.4 and 10.0%, respectively). These findings confirmed thatandinfections are widespread among horses all over Mongolia, and that horse age is a risk factor for infection in this country. Our results will be useful for designing appropriate control measures to minimizeandinfections among Mongolian horses.