<i>Anaplasma platys</i> -Like Infection in Goats, Beijing, China

Abstract

As one of the important tick-borne zoonotic pathogens, <i>Anaplasma</i> has both veterinary and public health significance. Here, we performed a survey of <i>Anaplasma</i> infection in the goats from a farm in Beijing, China, and found 44.6% (41/92) were infected with <i>Anaplasma capra</i>, and 22.8% (21/92) were infected with <i>Anaplasma</i> sp. This <i>Anaplasma</i> sp. bacterium was close to a recently emerging <i>Anaplasma platys</i> strain based on <i>gltA</i> and <i>groEL</i> gene phylogenetic analysis. As to further understand the characteristics of <i>Anaplasma</i> sp., we raised a couple of positive goats (<i>n</i> = 2) in the laboratory with tick-free settings. We observed inappetence, vomiting, high fever, and weakness of limbs in the goat's offspring (<i>n</i> = 3). In addition, the blood samples from all offspring were all positive of this <i>Anaplasma</i> spp. We did not see any intracellular morulae in neutrophils, monocytes, and erythrocytes, but we identified some in the platelets of the blood smears from the positive goats by light microscopy. We named it <i>A. platys-</i>like and suggested it may infect platelets and be transmitted vertically through the placenta of goats. These findings deserve further evaluation.