Abstract

Despite a steady increase in camel husbandry worldwide, the pathologies of camel diseases are still relatively under investigated in comparison to other livestock and companion animals. Clinical hematuria is generally indicative of either; acute or chronic urogenital inflammations, traumatic calculous injuries, cancers, or corrosive poisonings attributable to chemical agents. Infectious agents are not typically implicated in urinary tract infection of camel, however, in this study culturing of urine samples from two camels suffering from acute febrile disease with hematuria resulted in the isolation of Salmonella enterica subsp. Enterica serovar typhimurium, as determined by 16S rRNA gene sequencing, biochemical, and morphological identification. Microscopic examination of Giemsa stained blood smears from both infected dromedary camels revealed the presence of pleomorphic theileria piroplasms. The results suggest that the clinical symptoms were induced by theileria endothelial necrosis, followed by subsequent Salmonellosis. Given these remarkable findings, further research should aim to better characterize the opportunistic bacterial pathogens associated with camel theileriosis, as well as to determine other possible infectious agents of the camel urinary tract.

Key words: dromedary camels, Salmonella enterica, Theileriosis, hematuria