{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,9]],"date-time":"2026-09-09T05:06:54Z","timestamp":1788930414005,"version":"build-2803163510"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]],"date-time":"2026-09-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1788566400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004493","name":"International Atomic Energy Agency","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CRP D32037"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CRP D32037"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004493","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"award":["CRP D32037"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CRP D32037"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/02zt1gg83","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Int. J. Mol. Sci.","IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Theileria orientalis and Babesia bigemina are hemoprotozoan parasites that adversely affect domestic cattle (Bos taurus) productivity and health worldwide. Rapid climatic changes in different geo-climatic zones observed over the past few years may have altered the distribution and transmission of tick-borne pathogens and vectors. Though these parasites are reported in Sri Lanka in surveillance records, there is a limited understanding of their current distribution pattern. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence and genetic characterization of B. bigemina and T. orientalis in cattle from three geo-climatic zones of Sri Lanka during the period from January 2025 to March 2026. Out of 384 samples collected from animals (wet, n = 124; dry, n = 208; and intermediate, n = 52 zones) in Sri Lanka, the overall prevalence of 60.2% for T. orientalis and 7.6% for B. bigemina was revealed using PCR-based detection methods. The highest prevalence of T. orientalis was observed in the wet zone (86.3%), while the highest prevalence of B. bigemina was 17.3% in the intermediate zone. Co-infections were detected in 5.7% of cattle across all three zones. These results indicate the dominance of T. orientalis compared with B. bigemina in cattle in Sri Lanka. The observation of co-infections highlights the importance of vector control against vector-borne diseases in Sri Lanka.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms27177929","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,7]],"date-time":"2026-09-07T12:12:25Z","timestamp":1788783145000},"page":"7929","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Prevalence of Babesia bigemina and Theileria orientalis in Domestic Cattle (Bos taurus) Across the Three Geo-Climatic Zones of Sri Lanka"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"W. M. Gihani K.","family":"Weerasekara","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy 20400, Sri Lanka"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"W. M. Chathushka","family":"Dhananjaya","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy 20400, Sri Lanka"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"W. A. Bhagya","family":"Wanasinghe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy 20400, Sri Lanka"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Viskam","family":"Wijewardana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Production and Health Laboratory, Joint FAO\/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, 2444 Seibersdorf, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2598-9324","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Richard Thiga","family":"Kangethe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Animal Production and Health Laboratory, Joint FAO\/IAEA Centre of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, Department of Nuclear Sciences and Applications, International Atomic Energy Agency, 2444 Seibersdorf, Austria"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thilini A. N.","family":"Mahakapuge","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Kandy 20400, Sri Lanka"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"593232","DOI":"10.1155\/2009\/593232","article-title":"Effects of climate change on ticks and tick-borne diseases in Europe","volume":"2009","author":"Gray","year":"2009","journal-title":"Interdiscip. Perspect. Infect. 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