First Report of Trypanosoma vivax (Duttonella), Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina DNA in Cattle from the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, and Its Relationship with Anaplasma marginale

Bovine trypanosomoses, caused by <i>Trypanosoma vivax</i>, is a disease present in African and South American countries. This haemoflagellate protozoan parasite, as well as <i>Anaplasma marginale</i> and <i>Babesia</i> spp., are microorganisms that have a blood tropism, mainly causing fever and anaemia, which reduces the productive capacity of dairy or meat farms. This study aimed to detect <i>T. vivax</i> and other blood parasites in bovine herds in the Galapagos Islands. A total of 170 blood samples from bovines in 19 farms on Santa Cruz Island (the most populated) were collected and analyzed using different PCR techniques: <i>Da</i>-PCR and <i>CatL</i>-PCR to detect <i>Trypanosoma vivax</i>, <i>CatL</i>-PCR to detect <i>Trypanosoma theileri</i>, <i>ESAG</i>-PCR to detect <i>Trypanosoma evansi</i>, <i>18S rRNA</i>-PCR to detect <i>Babesia</i> spp., <i>rap-1</i>-PCR to detect <i>Babesia bovis</i>, <i>hyp</i>-PCR to detect <i>Babesia bigemina</i>, and <i>msp5</i>-PCR to detect <i>A. marginale</i>. The prevalence of <i>T. vivax</i>, <i>B. bovis</i>, <i>B. bigemina</i>, and <i>A. marginale</i> was estimated as 14.7%, 11.2%, 14.7%, and 67.1%, respectively. In this study, the presence of four haemotropic agents was evidenced in 26.3% (5/19) of the farms. Coinfected cattle (<i>A. marginale</i>, <i>B. bovis</i> and <i>B. bigemina</i>) had significantly higher body temperatures compared to others (two-sample Wilcoxon rank-sum test; <i>p</i>-value = 0.047). The molecular techniques used in this study demonstrated the presence of <i>T. vivax</i> and <i>B. bovis</i> in cattle from Santa Cruz Island in the Galapagos for the first time. The study also investigates the relationship between <i>T. vivax, A. marginale</i> and <i>Babesia</i> spp., making a significant contribution to the field of veterinary medicine.