Piroplasmas in small wild rodents: a morphological and Molecular approach

• Grant number: 15/10625-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: July 01, 2015
• End date: June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Parasitology - Protozoology of Parasites
• Principal Investigator: Lucia Helena O'Dwyer de Oliveira
• Grantee: Luna Scarpari Rolim
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biociências (IBB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Wild animals may serve as reservoirs for many diseases, including zoonotic ones. Among them, babesiosis can infect domestic animals and men. Babesia species are the etiologic agent of this disease and infect the erythrocytes. The invertebrate hosts are ticks which can serve as vectors. Many Babesia species have been described around the world, in different animal hosts, including men, nevertheless, we don't know which species occur in Brazil. In the same way, the reservoirs are not known, but animals from Rodentia order are associated to the infection. In this project, blood smears from small wild-trapped rodents from Botucatu, São Paulo will be searched for Babesia sp. merozoites. All the samples will be submitted to PCR evaluation and the positive ones will be purified and sequenced to prepare phylogenetic trees.