1.Molecular prevalence of Anaplasma marginale in ruminants and Rhipicephalus ticks in northern Pakistan
Ali, S. ; Hasan, M. ; Ahmad, A.S. ; Ashraf, K. ; Khan, J.A. ; Rashid, M.I.
Tropical Biomedicine 2023;40(No.1):7-13
Anaplasma marginale is the most prevalent tick-borne haemoparasite of cattle and causes huge
economic losses to the dairy industry worldwide. This study aimed to determine the occurrence of A.
marginale infection in blood and tick samples collected from livestock animals in the districts located
in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), Pakistan. A total of 184 blood and 370 tick samples were included in this
study. It has never been reported that sheep, goats, and cattle in Tank, Ghulam Khan, Birmil and Miran
Shah areas were infected with A. marginale. All samples of blood and ticks were collected through
random sampling from March 2021 to January 2022 from cattle, sheep and goats and screened through
PCR for anaplasmosis by using primer pairs of Anaplasma spp. Three hundred and seventy ticks were
collected from infested hosts (120/184, 64.21%). Among the four morphologically identified tick species,
the highest occurrence was recorded for Rhipicephalus sanguineus (n=138, 37.29%), followed by
Rhipicephalus microplus (n=131, 35.4%), Rhipicephalus annulatus (n=40, 10.81%), Hyalomma anatolicum
(n=31, 8.37%), and Hyalomma marginatum (n=30, 8.1%). The occurrence of female tick was highest
(n=160, 43.24%), followed by nymphs (n=140, 37.38%) and males ticks (n=70, 18.9%). Among these ticks,
A. marginale was detected in female ticks of R. microplus, and R. sanguineus. Molecular identification
of A. marginale was confirmed in 120 out of 184 blood samples and 6 out of 74 tick samples. Overall,
occurrence of A. marginale in blood and tick samples was found to be 65.21% and 8.1% respectively.
Species-wise occurrence in blood samples of goats were 71.11% followed by sheep 68.31% and cattle
50%. Specie-wise occurrence of A. marginale in tick samples of cattle were 12.5% followed by goats
6.89%. The obtained sequence showed similarity with A. marginale reported from Kenya and USA. We
report the first PCR based detection of A. marginale infection in blood samples and in R. sanguineus
ticks of goats simultaneously.
2.Giant urinary bladder with left scrotal swelling: An unusual presentation of chronic urinary retention
Nur Bazlaah Bahari ; Fadya Nabiha A.S Ahmad Shariffuddin, ; Khairuzi Salekan ; Amerdad Dzulkifli ; Mohd Firdaus Hassan ; Ismayudin Ismail
The Medical Journal of Malaysia 2020;75(6):736-737
Chronic Urinary Retention (CUR) can be either
asymptomatic or associated with lower urinary tract
symptoms. There has been no report of case of CUR
presented with unilateral scrotal swelling. In the present
report, a 69-year-old man came with an abdominal
distension and left scrotal swelling. He was initially
diagnosed with ascites secondary to a possible malignancy.
A diagnosis was established after a computed tomography
(CT) scan was done that revealed a giant bladder distension
with volume of 10.1 litres. The left scrotal swelling was
resolved after catheterization was carried out. There was a
possibility that the patient had inferior vena cava
obstruction secondary to the huge bladder