Plasmodium gallinaceum and
Plasmodium juxtanucleare are the most common species of
Plasmodium causing avian malaria in domestic and wild chickens. In Thailand,
P.
gallinaceum infection in poultry has been reported since 1996, but P.
juxtanucleare infection
has never been reported. The objective of this study was to identify and characterize the
Plasmodium species infecting Burmese red junglefowls (
Gallus gallus spadiceus) in Thailand
using molecular techniques. Seventeen Burmese red junglefowls from a farm in western
Thailand were suspected of being infected with blood parasite. Blood samples of all
seventeen Burmese red junglefowls were collected and examined. Microscopic examination
revealed the presence of
Plasmodium trophozoites in 5 out of 17 samples. In comparison,
nested PCR detected 12 samples to be positive for
Plasmodium spp. Molecular
characterization, based on partial sequence of mitochondrial cytochrome
b gene, revealed 7
PCR-positive samples as
P. juxtanucleare. Nucleotide sequence comparison and
phylogenetic analyses grouped these 7
P. juxtanucleare into 2 distinct groups. The first group
was identical to
P. juxtanucleare previously reported from Brazil, Malaysia and Taiwan,
whereas the second group was identical to
P. juxtanucleare from Japan. This is the first
report on molecular confirmation and characterization of
P. juxtanucleare in Burmese red
junglefowls in Thailand.
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