Prevalence and molecular characterization of from falcons in Saudi Arabia.

Objective: This study aimed to inspect the occurrence of () in falcons from the central area of Saudi Arabia.

Materials And Methods: Blood samples from 100 falcons species, including 55 , 22 , 13 and 10 , were collected from November 2018 to April 2019 and examined for by microscopic examination and nested PCR, targeting a cytochrome b () gene.

Results: The prevalence was 1% by microscopic examination. The prevalence rate of was 1% by the microscopic method and 3% by PCR. Only was infected. In the sequence and phylogenetic analyses, the two sequences were 100% identical and closely related to the Lithuanian isolate with 99.35% identity.

Conclusions: This study presents the first report of molecular detection and characterization of in from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.