| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣大學 === 臨床動物醫學研究所 === 98 === During June to August, 2009, a serological survey was carried out to investigate the prevalence rate of equine piroplasmosis (EP), equine granulocytic anaplasmosis (EGA), and equine Lyme disease (LD) in Taiwan. EP is an important infectious disease of equids, caused by the infection of Babesia caballi or Theileria equi, being monitored by countries around the world in the international movements of horses. EGA is caused by the infection of Anaplasma phagocytophilum and equine LD is caused by the infection of Borrelia burgdorferi; both these diseases are zoonotic. According to the distribution of horse raising facilities and horses kept, the target population for the survey was roughly grouped into three geographical regions, namely, the Northern (Taipei city, and Taipei county), TaoZhuMiao (Taoyuan city, Taoyuan county, Xinzhu city, Xinzhu county, and Miaoli county), and Central-South (Taichung city, Taichung county, Kaohsiung city, Kaohsiung county, and PingTung county) region. 231 horse blood samples were collected from 9 facilities in the Northern region, 127 samples were collected from 8 facilities in the TaoZhuMiao region, and 131 samples from 7 facilities in the Central-South region. A total of 489 horse blood samples were collected and evaluated with commercial competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (C-ELISA) and ELISA test kits for the detection of antibodies against EP, EGA, and LD in the horse serum. The C-ELISA examination results of EP were negative for all the serum samples. TaoZhuMiao region has the highest prevalence for both EGA (2.36%, 3/127), and equine LD (4.72%, 6/127). The overall prevalence of EGA was 2.05% (10/489), and 3.48% (17/489) for equine LD. In conclusion, the serological test for EP has shown no positive case, owing to the routine quarantine and examinations of imported horses. Even though the prevalence of EGA and LD is relatively lower compared with studies from other countries, further investigation will be needed to account for the epidemiological dynamics of A. phagocytophilum and B. burgdorferi infections in other animals in Taiwan.
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