Anaplasma marginale status in dairy cattle on a farm on the island of Gran Canaria.

Abstract

Bovine anaplasmosis is a cattle disease, mainly located in tropical and subtropical regions, causing great economic losses for the livestock sector. Anaplasma spp. is primarily transmitted by ticks of various genera, although other arthropods, such as tabanids and mosquitoes, may be involved, and is maintained by the action of reservoir animals. The localization of the disease has been increasing in European territory over the years by the displacement of vectors due to global warming, so that the expansion of the bacterium is greater in warmer regions, including Spain. In recent years, an outbreak clinically compatible with Anaplasma marginale was described for the first time in a cattle farm in the southeast of Gran Canaria, in the Canary Islands. This study consists of taking blood samples from 109 animals in the same farm 6 years later to know the status of the herd and the presence or absence of Anaplasma in it.