Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Acta Parasitologica https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-020-00223-0 ORIGINAL PAPER Hematological and Biochemical Changes in Naturally Occurring Equine Piroplasmosis in Donkeys (Equus asinus) of Northwest of Iran Neda Ahmadi Afshar 1  · Farnaz Malekifard 2  · Siamak Asri Rezaei 3  · Mousa Tavassoli 2 Received: 26 January 2020 / Accepted: 29 April 2020 © Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences 2020 Abstract Purpose Equine piroplasmosis is a tick-borne protozoal disease afecting horses, mules, donkeys and zebras and can lead to severe economic losses in the equine industry. There is limited information on clinical pathologic changes of equine piro- plasmosis in donkeys. This study aims to investigate the impacts of babesiosis on various hematological and biochemical properties in naturally infected donkeys with Theileria equi and Babesia caballi. Methods A total of 200 apparently healthy donkeys were randomly examined for the presence of equine piroplasmosis in blood samples. Of 200 samples, 11(5.5%) animals were positive for T. equi and 3(1.5%) of the samples were infected with B. caballi. 14 uninfected donkeys, were also selected as a control group. Results The results of the comparison showed that infected donkeys presented a signifcant elevation (P < 0.05) of total leukocyte count, number of lymphocyte, monocyte, neutrophil and eosinophil, while showed a signifcant decreased in (P < 0.05) hemoglobin concentration (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cells (RBCs), mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC). The infected donkeys had signifcantly higher levels of total protein and total bilirubin (P < 0.05), whereas the amount of albumin was signifcantly lower in comparison to healthy animals (P < 0.05). It is interesting to note that the amounts of urea, cholesterol, creatinine, triglyceride, LDL and HDL, CK, AST, LDH, GGT, and Malondialdehyde were signifcantly higher (P < 0.05) in infected donkeys. Conclusions The current study describes laboratory fndings in the afected donkeys which were good criteria for diagnosis and control of equine piroplasmosis in donkeys. Keyword Donkey · Hematology · Biochemical parameters · Theileria equi · Babesia caballi Introduction Equine piroplasmosis (EP) is a disease resulting from two intra-erythrocyte protozoan Babesia equi (recently re-classi- fed as Theileria equi) [25] and Babesia caballi [2]. Equine piroplasmosis is seen in all members of the Equus genus (horses, donkeys, zebras, and their crossbreeds). This disease causes several symptoms such as anemia, hepatomegaly, fever, icterus, edema, hemoglobinuria, and intravascular hemolysis and some cases of morbidity have also been reported [32, 37]. Piroplasmosis has various clinical forms and it is often non-specifc [41] Due to their similar symp- toms, clinical signs are not useful enough in distinguishing T. equi and B. caballi [2, 39]. Donkeys are hosts for various protozoan parasites. Hemoparasitic diseases of donkeys lead to several symp- toms like a signifcant reduction in strength and draughts power and these diseases may threaten the animal’s survival [26]. Donkeys commonly sufer from chronic equine piro- plasmosis and most of the time they lack any specifc clini- cal signs, however, some symptoms such as poor working performance, mild appetence and insufcient weight gain are frequently noticed [18]. Although EP is very important in donkeys, there is lim- ited information on clinicopathological changes of equine piroplasmosis in these animals. There are Several data about * Farnaz Malekifard f.malekifard@urmia.ac.ir 1 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran 2 Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran 3 Department of Internal Diseases and Clinical Pathology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia, Iran