Barış Sari

The prevalence of Cryptosporidium species in diarrhoeic lambs in Kars province and potential risk factors

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium species in diarrhoeic lambs and investigate some risk factors in Kars province (Northeastern region of Anatolia) in Turkey. Four hundred faecal samples were taken from the rectums of clinically diarrhoeic and aged to 1-month-old lambs from 34 sheep farms in 20 villages in March-April 2007 and examined by using the modified acid-fast staining technique. The prevalence of Cryptosporidium species was found as 38.8% (155/400). Cryptosporidium oocysts were detected in 90.0% (18/20) of villages and in 76.5% (26/34) of the sheep farms. Infection rates were detected as: 44.4% (67/151) in 1-week-old lambs, 37.5% (39/104) in 2-week-old lambs, 40.0% (38/95) in 3-week-old lambs, and 22.0% (11/50) in 4-week-old lambs. Farms classified according to their zoohygienic conditions and fine, average and bad conditioned farms were contaminated with Cryptosporidium with the percentages of 14.7%, 20.6% and 41.2%, respectively. Clinical cryptosporidiosis was determined in 35.0% of the villages (7/20) and in 29.4% of the sheep farms (10/34), Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in 81.3% of the lambs (91/112) in these farms. Cryptosporidiosis may be a major epidemiological significance in lambs in Kars province, and suggests that naturally infected lambs may be reservoirs of Cryptosporidiosis infections for calves even for humans too.

Seroepidemiological and entomological survey in a new focus of zoonotic visceral leishmaniasis in Kars province, Northeastern Turkey

Visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has now been recorded from 38 provinces of Turkey. Twenty-one VL cases were reported within six years from settlements located in most northeastern Turkey and we therefore aimed to carry out an entomological and seroepidemiological survey in this new focus for clarifying risk factors. Blood samples from 290 children and 165 dogs were collected. Sera samples were investigated for anti-Leishmania antibodies using indirect fluorescent antibody test. Sand fly collection for determining the fauna and seasonal activity was performed in all settlements by CDC light traps between June and September 2006. Although no seropositive child was detected during the survey the overall seroprevalence rate of canine leishmaniasis was found as 7.2%. A total of 4154 sand flies were collected and 10 species of genus Phlebotomus were identified belonging to Adlerius, Larroussius, Paraphlebotomus and Phlebotomus subgenera. Among them Phlebotomus kandelakii s.l. (55.44%), Phlebotomus balcanicus (12.62%) and Phlebotomus neglectus (4.40%) was detected as probable vector species for this new focus. The poor sanitation, very high population size of sand flies, probably because of very short season, no control measures for sand flies as well as dogs, and presence of microclimate suitable for sand flies were considered as main risk factors in the area.

Rearrangement hotspots in the sex chromosome of the Palearctic black fly Simulium bergi (Diptera, Simuliidae).

Abstract An extreme example of nonrandom rearrangements, especially inversion breaks, is described in the polytene chromosomes of the black fly Simulium bergi Rubtsov, 1956 from Armenia and Turkey. A total of 48 rearrangements was discovered, relative to the standard banding sequence for the subgenus Simulium Latreille, 1802. One rearrangement, an inversion (IIS-C) in the short arm of the second chromosome, was fixed. Six (12.5%) of the rearrangements were autosomal polymorphisms, and the remaining 41 (85.4%) were sex linked. More than 40 X- and Y-linked rearrangements, predominantly inversions, were clustered in the long arm of the second chromosome (IIL), representing about 15% of the total complement. The pattern conforms to a nonrandom model of chromosome breakage, perhaps associated with an underlying molecular mechanism.

Prevalance of Eimeria Species in Dairy Calves of Erzurum and Vicinity

Bu cal sma; Erzurum ilinde buzag larda coccidiosise neden olan turleri belirlemek amac yla yap lm st r. Arast rma, Mart-Nisan 2007’de,12 yerlesim yerinden secilen 30 ah r/ciftlikte yurutulmustur. Sutcu isletmelerde bulunan, klinik olarak ishalli ya da normal d sk l 3 ayl ga kadar olan 189 buzag n n rektumlar ndan al nan taze d sk ornekleri cinko sulfat santrifuj flotasyon yontemi ile incelenmistir. Erzurum’da buzag lar n %25.9 (49/189)’unda coccidia etkeni saptanm st r. Eimeria turleri ile enfeksiyon oran ishalli buzag larda %31.9 (38/119), sagl kl olanlarda ise %15.7 (11/70) olarak bulunmustur. Eimeria turlerinin prevalans 1-3 ayl k buzag larda (%31.0; 31/100) bir ayl ga kadar olanlara (%20.2; 18/89) gore daha yuksek bulunmustur. Secilen 12 yerlesim yerinin 11 (%91.7)’indeki ciftlik/ah rlar n 22 (%73.3)’sinde coccidia oocystlerine rastlanm st r. Eimeria oocystleri kamu ciftliklerinde %19.2 (20/104) ve halk tipi yetistirmelerde %34.1 (29/85) oran nda gorulmustur. Enfekte buzag larda Eimeria ellipsoidalis (%51.0), E. auburnensis (%38.8), E. bovis (%32.7), E. zuernii (%22.5), E. subspherica (%16.3), E. canadensis (%6.1), E. alabamensis (%4.1), E. brasiliensis (%4.1) ve E. bukidnonensis (%4.1) olmak uzere 9 coccidia etkeni tan mlanm st r.