First Detection of Equine Anaplasmosis and Hemoplasmosis of Horses in Mosul City, Iraq

Equine anaplasmosis (Anaplasma phagocytophilum) and hemoplasmosis (hemotropic Mycoplasma spp.) are two bacterial diseases diagnosed in horse’s blood for the first time in Iraq. Both diseases can be transmitted by different ticks and some reservoir hosts Anaplasmosis and hemoplasmosis also play a role in their transmission. In September 2017 to July 2018, clinical and hematological examinations of 45 cases of suspected equine anaplasmosis and/or hemoplasmosis at veterinary teaching hospital of college of veterinary medicine, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq. The clinical examination were revealed Depression, ataxia, fever, palemucousmembranes, limb edema and colic in some cases. The hematological examination showed mild anemia, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia, with inclusions visual in the buffy coat and blood smears. Hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. (in erythrocytes) and A. phagocytophilum morulae (in neutrophils and monocytes) were observed in 33.3 % and 28.9% of samples, respectively with 37.8% of samples had co-infection of hemotropic Mycoplasma spp. and A. phagocytophilum .The tick hemolymph test was successfully applied to naturally infected adult ticks of horses and provides a rapid identification of the elementary bodies of A. phagocytophilium.