Sarcosporidiosis: An Emerging Disease in Yaks (Bos grunniens) on the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau (QTP), China.

BACKGROUND: Sarcocystosis is a worldwide distributed parasitic zoonosis. However, scarce knowledge is available about the infection of sarcocystosis in yaks.

RESULTS: Herein, we conducted this study to survey the seroprevalence of sarcocystosis in yaks on the Qinghai Tibetan plateau. A total of 2549 serum samples were obtained during 2011-2017, which were assayed using commercial ELISA kits. The results revealed that the overall seroprevalence of sarcosporidiosis in QTP yaks was 0.90% (95 CI 0.6-1.4). The seroprevalence ranged from 0.20% (95 CI 0-1.1) to 1.67% (95 CI 0.8-3.0) in yaks in different areas. The seroprevalence was 0.73% (95 CI 0.3-1.4) in male yaks and 0.06% (95 CI 0.6-1.8) in female yaks. In different ages, the seroprevalence ranged from 0 (95 CI 0-1.4) to 1.47% (95 CI 0.6-3.0). In different years, the seroprevalence ranged from 0 (95 CI 0-1.4) to 1.86% (95 CI 0.7-4.0). In the current study herein, region and age were revealed to be the obvious influencing risk factors by conditional stepwise logistic regression.

DISCUSSION: The current study herein first found the emerging infection of sarcosporidiosis in yaks from high plateaus, which contributes to outline the epidemiological scenario of sarcosporidiosis in yaks in China. Moreover, our findings highlight the urgent need of studies in yaks on the QTP at further and more comprehensive level.