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In addition to the zoonotic potential, there is increasing interest in these protozoa because of the evidence supporting the role of\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. in the occurrence of bovine eosinophilic myositis (BEM), a specific inflammatory myopathy which leads to carcass condemnation and considerable economic losses. Actually, all the prevalence studies carried out on cattle in Italy have been based on either morphological or 18S rDNA-based molecular techniques, most likely leading to misidentification of closely related species. Therefore, there is a strong need for new data on the prevalence of the different\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. in cattle in Italy and their association with bovine eosinophilic myositis.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      To reach our aim, individual striated muscle samples from BEM condemned carcasses (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u200954) and diaphragm muscle samples from randomly sampled carcasses (\n                      <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u2009=\u200959) were obtained from Northwest Italy slaughterhouses. Genomic DNA was extracted and analyzed by multiplex-PCR targeting 18S rDNA and\n                      <jats:italic>cox1<\/jats:italic>\n                      genes. PCR products amplified using the genus-specific primer set in absence of the specific fragment for\n                      <jats:italic>S. hirsuta<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic>S. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic>S. hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                      or\n                      <jats:italic>S. bovifelis<\/jats:italic>\n                      were sequenced to achieve species identification.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      DNA was detected in 67.8% of the samples from slaughter cattle and in 90.7% of the samples from BEM condemned carcasses.\n                      <jats:italic>S. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                      was identified as the most prevalent species in slaughter cattle (61%), followed by\n                      <jats:italic>S. bovifelis<\/jats:italic>\n                      (10.2%),\n                      <jats:italic>S. hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                      (8.5%) and\n                      <jats:italic>S. hirsuta<\/jats:italic>\n                      (1.7%). Notably, among the different\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. detected, the presence of\n                      <jats:italic>S. bovifelis<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>S. hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                      was significantly higher in samples isolated from BEM condemned carcasses (46.3% and 40.7% respectively), while there was no statistically significant difference between the presence of\n                      <jats:italic>S. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                      or\n                      <jats:italic>S. hirsuta<\/jats:italic>\n                      in BEM condemned carcasses (42.6% and 1.8%, respectively) and randomly sampled carcasses. Furthermore, DNA sequence analysis revealed the presence of a putative new species in two carcasses.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Our study contributes to updating the data on the prevalence of the different\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp. in cattle in Italy, highlighting the presence of three\n                      <jats:italic>Sarcocystis<\/jats:italic>\n                      spp.,\n                      <jats:italic>S. cruzi<\/jats:italic>\n                      ,\n                      <jats:italic>S. hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>S. bovifelis<\/jats:italic>\n                      , in BEM lesions and allowing us to speculate on the possible role of\n                      <jats:italic>S. hominis<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>S. bovifelis<\/jats:italic>\n                      as the major sarcosporidian species involved in bovine eosinophilic myositis.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Graphical Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-021-04722-5","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]],"date-time":"2021-04-23T06:04:14Z","timestamp":1619157854000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":25,"title":["Molecular detection of cattle Sarcocystis spp. in North-West Italy highlights their association with bovine eosinophilic myositis"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1120-6501","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Selene","family":"Rubiola","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tiziana","family":"Civera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Felice","family":"Panebianco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Davide","family":"Vercellino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Chiesa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"4722_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.fawpar.2015.09.001","volume":"1","author":"JP Dubey","year":"2015","unstructured":"Dubey JP. 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