Dynamics and within-host interaction of Theileria lestoquardi and T. ovis among naive sheep in Oman

Awad, Hoyam, Gadalla, Amal A. H. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3131-725X, Postigo, Milagros, Al-Hamidhi, Salama, Tageldin, Mohammed H., Skariah, Sini, Sultan, Ali A., Johnson, Eugene H., Shiels, Brian, Pain, Arnab, Thompson, Joanne and Babiker, Hamza A. 2020. Dynamics and within-host interaction of Theileria lestoquardi and T. ovis among naive sheep in Oman. Scientific Reports 10 (1) , 19802. 10.1038/s41598-020-76844-2

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Abstract

Mixed species infections of Theileria spp. are common in nature. Experimental and epidemiological data suggest that mixed species infections elicit cross-immunity that can modulate pathogenicity and disease burden at the population level. The present study examined within-host interactions, over a period of 13 months during natural infections with two Theileria spp., pathogenic (T. lestoquardi) and non-pathogenic (T. ovis), amongst a cohort of naive sheep in Oman. In the first two months after exposure to infection, a high rate of mortality was seen among sheep infected with T. lestoquardi alone. However, subsequently mixed-infections of T. lestoquardi and T. ovis prevailed, and no further death occurred. The overall densities of both parasite species were significantly higher as single infection vs mixed infection and the higher relative density of pathogenic T. lestoquardi indicated a competitive advantage over T. ovis in mixed infection. The density of both species fluctuated significantly over time, with no difference in density between the very hot (May to August) and warm season (September to April). A high degree of genotype multiplicity was seen among T. lestoquardi infections, which increased with rising parasite density. Our results illustrate a potential competitive interaction between the two ovine Theileria spp., and a substantial reduction in the risk of mortality in mixed parasite infections, indicating that T. ovis confers heterologous protection against lethal T. lestoquardi infection.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Medicine
Additional Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creat iveco mmons .org/licen ses/by/4.0/.
Publisher:	Nature Publishing Group
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 December 2020
Date of Acceptance:	22 October 2020
Last Modified:	05 May 2023 07:04
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/137078

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