Abdul Basit¹, Muhammad Ali², Ghulam Hussain¹_, Shahzad Irfan¹, Muhammad Saqib³, Arslan Iftikhar¹, Imtiaz Mustafa¹, Imran Mukhtar¹ and Haseeb Anwar^1*

Equine piroplasmosis is an endemic tick-borne disease of horses and other equids that is caused by Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. The study was aimed to investigate the seroprevalence of equine piroplasmosis during different seasons at district Sargodha located in central Punjab, Pakistan. For the detection of seropositive animals among sampled horses, the competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (cELISA) was performed against samples collected periodically during the four seasons of the year. On average basis, overall 36% of sampled horses were found seropositive with T. equi infection. Following the evaluation of seropositivity, subsequent estimation of oxidative stress biomarkers indicated that during winter season, total oxidant status (TOS) was found significantly (P≤0.05) increased while total antioxidant capacity (TAC), arylesterase and paraoxonase activity were found significantly decreased (P≤0.05) in seropositive horses as compared to healthy horses. Moreover, hematological parameters including red blood cells count, white blood cells count, MID and MID% were found significantly (P≤0.05) decreased while platelets, number of lymphocytes, number of granulocytes, and the percentage of lymphocytes were found significantly (P≤0.05) increased in seropositive horses as compared to seronegative horses in different seasons. In conclusion, we found that equine piroplasmosis markedly affect the oxidative stress biomarkers in seropositive horses primarily during the winter season as compared to all other seasons highlighting the seasonal impact of the disease.

To Cite This Article: Basit A, Ali M, Hussain G, Irfan S, Saqib M, Iftikhar A, Mustafa I, Mukhtar I and Anwar H, 2020. Effect of equine piroplasmosis on hematological and oxidative stress biomarkers in relation to different seasons in District Sargodha, Pakistan. Pak Vet J, 40(1): 43-48. http://dx.doi.org/10.29261/pakvetj/2020.009