Vet World   Vol.14   May-2021  Article-31

Prevalence and molecular identification of Nematodirus helvetianus in camels in Iraq

Background and Aim: Camels from the central part of Iraq are infected with multiple parasitic diseases that have an economic impact by decreasing meat and milk production. This study aimed to evaluate Nematodirus spp. in camels (Camelus dromedarius).

Materials and Methods: The study animals consisted of camels slaughtered in the central area of Iraq at the Al-Najaf slaughterhouse. All ages and sexes of camels were examined. Worms were recovered and identified microscopically. For molecular characterization, two Iraqi Nematodirus spp. partial ribosomal genes (ITS1 and ITS2) were sequenced and submitted to the NCBI database.

Results: Of 160 camels tested, 29 were infected with Nematodirus spp. (18.13%). Twenty-one nematodes containing the Nematodirus genes were identified in the small intestines of naturally infected camels. BLAST analysis revealed 88.1% sequence similarity with that of Nematodirus helvetianus isolated in China and 87.2% similarity with N. helvetianus isolated in the United States.

Conclusion: The prevalence of N. helvetianus warrants the use of anti-helminthic drugs for these animals and a rationale for future control strategies to prevent the transmission of this infection to other livestock. Keywords: camel, internal transcribed spacer, Nematodirus spp.

Keywords: camel, internal transcribed spacer, Nematodirus spp.

How to cite this article: Alhaboubi AR, Fadhil AI, Feidhel SR (2021) Prevalence and molecular identification of Nematodirus helvetianus in camels in Iraq, Veterinary World, 14(5): 1299-1302.

Received: 08-02-2021  Accepted: 15-04-2021     Published online: 25-05-2021

Corresponding author: Amer Rasool Alhaboubi   E-mail: arussul@covm.uobaghdad.edu.iq

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2021.1299-1302

Copyright: Alhaboubi, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.