NE US Academic Publishers Advances in Animal and Veterinary Sciences December 2019 | Volume 7 | Issue 12 | Page 1060 INTRODUCTION E quine piroplasmosis (EP) is one of the most common and vital tick-borne diseases and is caused by two hemoprotozoa species, specifcally T. equi and B. caballi ( Wise et al., 2014). It afects equids including horses, mules, donkeys, pony and zebras, in which it causes substantial direct and indirect losses (Al-Obaidi et al., 2014; Scoles and Ueti, 2015; Del Pino et al., 2016; Aziz and Al-Barwary, 2019). T. equi and B. caballi are transmitted by ixodid ticks of the genera Hyalomma, Rhipicephalus and Dermacentor (de Waal and Heerden, 1994). Teir infections which are indicated by an acute, sub-acute or chronic clinical sign, with mortality rate of up to 50% (de Waal, 1992). Te distribution of EP is worldwide. It is particularly prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. It is endemic in many parts of Asia, Africa, Europe, Arabia and America (Leblond et al., 2005). Te clinical symptoms of EP are often varied and non-specifc. Terefore, distinction between both type of infection based on clinical signs alone is impossible and mixed infections also occur (Potgieter et al., 1992; Rothschild and Knowles, 2007). Defnitive diagnosis of equine piroplasmosis depends on the demonstration of B. caballi and T. equi in blood smears Research Article Abstract | Tis study performed molecular detection and analysis of the heterogeneity of the 18S rRNA gene isolates obtained from equids such as horse, mule, donkey and pony from Erbil province, Kurdistan region of Iraq. Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) indicated that 76/136 (55.88%) of equine were infected with piroplasms, with Teileria equi (P=41.91%; CI=3.76-14.77%) more prevalent than Babesia caballi (P=8.82%; CI=1.00%), while mixed infection was less (P=5.15%; CI=0.21-1.46%) with a signifcant diference (P<0.001). Tere was a signifcant association between the prevalence of T. equi and recreation (p<0.03) or racing (p<0.02), and but neither the type of equids nor the gender and age groups was signifcantly associated with prevalence. Te obtained sequences were utilized for characterizing the genotypes and phylogeny of both the protozoa. BLAST analysis indicated 98-100% similarity to species isolated in Turkey, Malaysia, Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Iran, Brazil and South Africa. Four 18S rRNA genotype clades were observed for T. equi (A, B, C and D) and two for B. caballi (A and B). Genetic variation found among the equids in Erbil province is probably due to introduction of equines from other countries without quarantine measures. Tis study indicates that infection with T. equi is more prevalent than that of B. caballi in the studied area. Keywords | Multiplex PCR, Phylogenetic analysis, Equine piroplasmosis, Erbil KHALID JABAR AZIZ 1 *, LOKMAN TAIB OMER AL-BARWARY 2 , ZERAVAN ABDULRAZAQ MOHAMMED 3 , IBRAHIM ABDULQADER NAQID 4 Molecular Identifcation and Phylogenetic Analysis of Teileria equi and Babesia caballi Infections in Equids from Erbil Province, North of Iraq Received | September 26, 2019; Accepted | November 10, 2019; Published | November 20, 2019 *Correspondence | Khalid Jabar Aziz, Department of Animal Resources, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Salahuddin University, Erbil; Email: khalid.aziz1@su.edu.krd Citation | Aziz KJ, AL-Barwary, LTO, Mohammed ZA, Naqid IA (2019). Molecular identifcation and phylogenetic analysis of theileria equi and babesia caballi infections in equids from Erbil Province, North of Iraq. Adv. Anim. Vet. Sci. 7(12): 1060-1066. DOI | http://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.aavs/2019/7.12.1060.1066 ISSN (Online) | 2307-8316; ISSN (Print) | 2309-3331 Copyright © 2019 Aziz et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distri- bution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 1 Department of Animal Resources, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, Salahuddin University, Erbil; 2 Department of Microbiology and Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Duhok; 3 Duhok Research Center, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Duhok; 4 Department of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, University of Zakho