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Four hundred and eighty-one blood smears (187 from horses and 294 from
donkeys) and 91 blood spots on filter papers (36 horses and 55 donkeys) were
collected from apparently healthy animals in seven localities (Nyala, El-Dein,
Abu-Matariq, Kass, Kateila, Rehaid Albirdi and Tulus) during the period from
March 2009 to March 2010 and examined using parasitological and molecular
techniques, respectively. Blood smears examination revealed that, Babesia caballi
piroplasms were only seen in a donkey at Nyala locality. Theileria equi piroplasms
were seen in four (2.14%) and six (2.04%) horse and donkey samples,
respectively. T. equi was found to be prevalent in Nyala (4.11%) and Kateila
(2.27%) but no piroplasms were seen in smears collected from animals in other
localities. Using PCR, B. caballi DNA was detected in 12 horse samples (33.3%).
While, T. equi DNA was detected in five horses (3.9%) and 13 donkeys (23.6%).
The prevalence of B. caballi was 38.1% in El-Dein, 25% in Nyala and 33.3% in
Kass. While the prevalence of T. equi was 31.82% in Nyala, 20.83% in Abu-
Matariq, 20.83% in Kass and 4.76% in El-Dein. In horses the prevalence was
33.3% in Nyala and 4.8% in El-Dein. In donkeys it was 20.8% in Abu-Matariq,
23.8% in Kass and 30%in Nyala. The study concluded that, equine
piroplasmosis is prevalent in South Darfur, and T.equi is more likely to be
diagnosed microscopically than B. caballi. By molecular technique, B. caballi was
more common than T. equi in horses and was not detected in donkeys.
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