The T. foetus results are shown in (Figure 1). Of the 450 beef bulls tested, 113 were positive, which shows a prevalence of 25%. The high prevalence of T. foetus in the state of Chihuahua is similar to that reported in the mountains of Asturias in Spain (32%) in which cattle are managed in extensive pastoral systems where less than 2% of the matings are with artificial insemination (Mendoza-Ibarra et al ., 2012). Figure 1. Prevalence of bovine trichomoniasis in the State of Chihuahua.

Regarding the number of bulls tested for each breed, the highest number of positive samples was for Brangus and Charolais followed by Hereford. The prevalence was higher in Charolais (31%), followed by Brangus (26%) and Hereford (10.81%) as shown in Table 1. Table 1. Prevalence of bovine trichomoniasis by beef breed in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico.

The observed prevalence of trichomoniasis between the beef breeds tested, may indicate possible resistant differences to the protozoa. In this sense several studies have shown that Bos taurus (beef) breeds have an increased risk to get infected when exposed to T. foetus, since they are up to six times more

Prevalence of Tritrichomonas foetus in beef bulls in the State of Chihuahua, Mexico Tested with MagMAX™ Sample Preparation System and VetMAXTM-Gold Trich Detection Kit

*González R.E1., Ramírez-Godinez.J.A1., Leal T.B.A1., Lastra G.C1., Ordoñez B.P.L1., Álvarez G.J.A1., Santellano E.E1., Esparza V.M.E1., Baxter J2., Baca L.I. 2

1Facultad de Zootecnia y Ecología. Universidad Autónoma de Chihuahua. 2Animal Health Group at Thermo Fisher Scientific, Austin, TX

• The workflow of sample preparation with 5X MagMAX™ Pathogen RNA / DNA kit and real-time PCR VetMAX™-Gold Trich Detection Kit, enabled the rapid and sensitive diagnosis of T. foetus. • Its application allowed us to identify an important prevalence of the parasite (25%) in a population of beef bulls in the State of Chihuahua. • Our data is consistent with others observed in similar beef production systems, where abortion control diseases through molecular diagnosis is very limited or null. • The urge to expand the diagnosis to control this parasite is demonstrated.

•Ball, L., Dargatz, D.A., Cheney, J.M., Mortimer, R.G., 1987. Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract 3, 561-574 •BonDurant, R.H., Anderson, M.L., Blanchard, P., Hird, D., Danaye-Elmi, C., Palmer, C., Sischo, W.M., Suther, D., Utterback, W., Weigler, B.J., 1990. J Am Vet Med Assoc 196, 1590-1593. •Bondurant, R.H., 2005. Vet Clin North Am Food Anim Pract 21, 383-408. •Effinger L, Peddireddi L, Simunich M, Oberst R, O'Connell C, Leyva-Baca I. 2014. J Vet Diagn Invest. 26, 72-87. •Mendoza-Ibarra, J.A., Pedraza-Diaz, S., Garcia-Pena, F.J., Rojo-Montejo, S., Ruiz-Santa-Quiteria, J.A., San Miguel-Ibanez, E., Navarro-Lozano, V., Ortega-Mora, L.M., Osoro, K., Collantes-Fernandez, E., 2012. Veterinary Journal 193, 146-151. •Ortega-Mora, L.M., Matín-González, S., Pereira-Bueno, J., 1998. Epidemiología de la tricomonosis bovina. Bovis , 21-27. •Rae, D.O., Crews, J.E., Greiner, E.C., Donovan, G.A., 2004. Theriogenoloy.

Methods & Materials

Results

Conclusions

Sources & Citations

Introduction Bovine trichomoniasis is a sexually transmitted disease caused by the flagellate protozoan Tritrichomonas foetus, causing significant losses in the cattle industry under open grassland management and natural breeding (Bondurant, 2005). Bulls are the main carriers of T. foetus, since they can remain asymptomatic throughout their entire life. The standard diagnostic method for bulls requires the cultivation of smegma collected in a selective medium and the identification of the parasite under microscopy. However, this method is severely questioned, because other non-pathogenic subspecies of trichomonas with very similar morphology can result in generating false positives. Currently an alternative diagnostic method is with real-time PCR, which offers a faster and accurate detection method reaching a sensitivity and specificity of 99% (Effinger et al., 2014). The prevalence of bovine trichomoniasis in Mexico and particularly in the state of Chihuahua is unknown, since no diagnostic testing has been implemented extensively. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of trichomoniasis in beef bulls in the state of Chihuahua with a molecular diagnostic test based on Real-Time PCR - VetMAX™-Gold Trich Detection Kit with a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) license.

(Thermo Fisher Scientific)

•MagMAX™ Pathogen RNA/DNA Kit •MagMax™ Sample Preparation System (Thermo Fisher Scientific)

• Sample collection with TRICHIT™ pipette

• Incubation for 24 hrs in an InPouch™ TF media (Biomed Diagnostics Inc.)

likely to get infected than Bos indicus breeds. The observed differences may be explained by the greater number of mounts performed by Bos taurus compared to Bos indicus in a similar time period, thus increasing the exposure of bulls to infected cows (Rae et to 2004; Bondurant et al., 1990; Ortega-Mora et al, 1998).

Breed

No.

tested

No. Infected

Percentage (%)

Infected

Brangus 183 48 26.23

Charolais 104 33 31.73

Hereford 74 8 10.81

Criollo 32 12 37.5

Angus 24 4 16.67

Salers 19 3 15.79

Limousin 6 3 50

Beefmaster 5 1 20

Simmental 1 1 100

Brahman 1 0 0

Brown Swiss 1 0 0

450 113

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