%0 Journal Article %T Spatio-temporal variations and genetic diversity of Anaplasma spp. in cattle from the North of Tunisia %+ École Nationale de Médecine Vétérinaire de Sidi Thabet %+ Laboratoire d'Entomologie Médicale [Tunis, Tunisie] %A Belkahia, Hanène %A Ben Said, Mourad %A El Mabrouk, Narjesse %A Saidani, Mariem %A Cherni, Chayma %A Ben Hassen, Mariem %A Bouattour, Ali %A Messadi, Lilia %Z This study was supported by the research project “PS1.3.023–RESTUS” funded by the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) − Transboundary Cooperation (TC) − Italy-Tunisia 2007–2013, the “Laboratoire d’épidémiologie d’infections enzootiques des herbivores en Tunisie” (LR02AGR03), funded by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research of Tunisia, and the research project “Epidémiologie de maladies bactériennes à transmission vectorielle des herbivores” (06-680-0029) funded by the Ministry of Agriculture of Tunisia. %< avec comité de lecture %@ 0378-1135 %J Veterinary Microbiology %I Elsevier %V 208 %P 223-230 %8 2017-09 %D 2017 %R 10.1016/j.vetmic.2017.08.004 %M 28888642 %K Anaplasma species %K Genetic diversity %K Seasonal variation %K Tunisian cattle %K Bioclimatic distribution %K Co-occurrence %Z Life Sciences [q-bio] %Z Life Sciences [q-bio]/Animal biology/Veterinary medicine and animal Health %Z Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and ParasitologyJournal articles %X In cattle, anaplasmosis is a tick-borne rickettsial disease caused by Anaplasma marginale, A. centrale, A. phagocytophilum, and A. bovis. To date, no information concerning the seasonal dynamics of single and/or mixed infections by different Anaplasma species in bovines are available in Tunisia. In this work, a total of 1035 blood bovine samples were collected in spring (n=367), summer (n=248), autumn (n=244) and winter (n=176) from five different governorates belonging to three bioclimatic zones from the North of Tunisia. Molecular survey of A. marginale, A. centrale and A. bovis in cattle showed that average prevalence rates were 4.7% (minimum 4.1% in autumn and maximum 5.6% in summer), 7% (minimum 3.9% in winter and maximum 10.7% in autumn) and 4.9% (minimum 2.7% in spring and maximum 7.3% in summer), respectively. A. phagocytophilum was not detected in all investigated cattle. Seasonal variations of Anaplasma spp. infection and co-infection rates in overall and/or according to each bioclimatic area were recorded. Molecular characterization of A. marginale msp4 gene indicated a high sequence homology of revealed strains with A. marginale sequences from African countries. Alignment of 16S rRNA A. centrale sequences showed that Tunisian strains were identical to the vaccine strain from several sub-Saharan African and European countries. The comparison of the 16S rRNA sequences of A. bovis variants showed a perfect homology between Tunisian variants isolated from cattle, goats and sheep. These present data are essential to estimate the risk of bovine anaplasmosis in order to develop integrated control policies against multi-species pathogen communities, infecting humans and different animal species, in the country. %G English %Z The authors would like to thank Dr. Leïla Sayeh, Dr. Saber Hdhiri, Dr. Aymen Sahbani, Dr. Tarak Blaïech, Dr. Oussama Mathlouthi, Dr. Said Jaajaa and Dr. Taoufik Ben Hamida and their technicians for their help and facilitating the access to the farmers. %L pasteur-01959953 %U https://riip.hal.science/pasteur-01959953 %~ RIIP %~ RIIP_TUNIS