Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T12:00:25.688Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Maintenance of Theileria parva parva infection in an endemic area of Kenya

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. S. Young
Affiliation:
Protozoology Division, Veterinary Research Department, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Muguga, P.O. Box 32, Kikuyu, Kenya
B. L. Leitch
Affiliation:
Protozoology Division, Veterinary Research Department, Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, Muguga, P.O. Box 32, Kikuyu, Kenya
R. M. Newson
Affiliation:
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya
M. P. Cunningham*
Affiliation:
International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology, P.O. Box 30772, Nairobi, Kenya
*
Deceased.

Summary

The maintenance of Theileria parva parva infection in an endemic area of Kenya on the shore of Lake Victoria was studied in the field and laboratory. High prevalences of antibodies against T. parva and T. mutans and intra-erythrocytic piroplasms were detected in local zebu (Bos indicus) cattle. The mean infection rate of Theileria parasites in the tick, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, in field collections was 1·1 %. Most of the infection was attributed to T. parva parva by application of field ticks to susceptible cattle. Five cattle, all about 1·5 years old, were purchased from local owners and transported to the laboratory. All five had oscillating antibody titres against T. parva and T. mutans and had patent theilerial infections during the subsequent 13 months. Uninfected R. appendiculatus nymphs were applied to cattle at 0, 3, 6, 9 and 13 months after transport to Muguga, and 18 out of 23 batches transmitted T. parva parva infection to cattle when 100 resultant R. appendiculatus adults were applied. Infection rates in the tick batches were usually low, with 1 salivary gland acinus infected/tick. Hence, a frequent carrier state of naturally infected cattle has been demonstrated for T. parva parva for the first time, and it is likely that this carrier state is of great importance in maintenance of T. parva parva infection in the field.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anon (1981). The cradication of East Coast fever in South Africa. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 52, 71–3.Google Scholar
Barnett, S. F. (1968). Theileriosis. In Infectious Blood Diseases of Man and Animals, vol. 2 (ed. Weinman, D. and Ristic, M.), pp. 269328. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, S. F. (1977). Theileria. In Parasitic Protozoa, vol. 4 (ed. Kreier, J. P.), pp. 77113. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Barnett, S. F. & Brocklesby, D. W. (1966). Recent investigations on Theileridae of cattle and buffalo in Africa. A mild form of East Coast fever (Theileria parva) with persistence of infection. British Veterinary Journal 122, 362–71.Google Scholar
Bevan, L. E. W. (1924). East Coast fever – the theory of latency. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 18, 328–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burridge, M. J. & Kimber, C. D. (1972). The indirect fluorescent antibody test for experimental East Coast fever (Theileria parva infection of cattle). Evaluation of a cell culture schizont antigen. Research in Veterinary Science 13, 451–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burridge, M. J. & Kimber, C. D. (1973). Duration of serological response to the indirect fluorescent antibody test of cattle recovered from Theileria parva infection. Research in Veterinary Science 14, 270–1.Google Scholar
Cunningham, M. P., Brown, C. G. D., Burridge, M. J. & Purnell, R. E. (1973). Cryopreservation of infective particles of Theileria parva. International Journal for Parasitology 3, 583–7.Google Scholar
Dolan, T. T. (1981). Progress in the chemotherapy of Theileriosis. In Advances in the Control of Theileriosis (ed. Irvin, A. D., Cunningham, M. P. and Young, A. S.), pp. 6365. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Dolan, T. T. (1986). Chemotherapy of East Coast fever. The long term growth rate, carrier state and disease manifestations of parvaquone treated cattle. Journal of Comparative Pathology (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
du Toit, P. J. (1931). Immunity in East Coast fever, 17th report of the Director of Veterinary Services and Animal Industry. Pretoria, pp. 325.Google Scholar
Fao (1975). Epizootiological survey on Tick-borne Cattle Diseases – Kenya. AG:DP/Ken/70/522, Technical Report 1, UNDP/FAO Rome.Google Scholar
Henning, M. W. (1949). Animal Diseases in South Africa, 2nd ed, pp. 415–17. Durban: Central News Agency Ltd.Google Scholar
Irvin, A. D. (1985). Immunization against Theileriosis in Africa. ILRAD, Nairobi.Google Scholar
Irvin, A. D., Dobbelaere, D. A., Mwamachi, D. M., Mimani, T., Spooner, P. R. & Ocama, J. G. R. (1983). Immunization against East Coast fever: correlation between monoclonal antibody profiles of Theileria parva stocks and cross-immunity in vivo. Research in Veterinary Science 35, 341–6.Google Scholar
Kimber, C. D. & Young, A. S. (1977). Serological studies on strains of Theileria mutans isolated in East Africa using the indirect fluorescent antibody technique. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 71, 110.Google Scholar
Mason, I. L. & Maule, J. P. (1960). The Indigenous Livestock of East and Central Africa pp. 151. Farnham Royal: Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux.Google Scholar
Mettam, R. W. N. & Carmichael, J. (1936). Turning sickness, a protozoan encephalitis of cattle in Uganda. Its relationship with East Coast fever. Parasitology 28, 254–83.Google Scholar
Mimami, T., Spooner, P. R., Irvin, A. D., Ocama, J. G. R., Dobbelaere, D. A. E. & Fuginaga, T. (1983). Characterization of stocks of Theileria parva by monoclonal antibody profiles. Research in Veterinary Science 35, 334–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moll, G., Lohding, A. & Young, A. S. (1984). Epidemiology of theileriosis in the Trans-Mara Division, Kenya. Husbandry and disease background and preliminary observations on theileriosis in calves. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 2, 801–31.Google Scholar
Moll, G., Lohding, A., Young, A. S. & Leitch, B. L. (1986). Epidemiology of Theileriosis in calves in an endemic area of Kenya. Veterinary Parasitology (in the Press).Google Scholar
Neitz, W. O. (1957). Theileriosis, gonderioses and cytauxzoonoses. A review. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research 27, 275430.Google Scholar
Newson, R. M., Chiera, J. W., Young, A. S., Dolan, T. T., Cunningham, M. P. & Radley, D. E. (1984). Survival of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Acarina: Ixodidae) and persistence of Theileria parva (Apicomplexa: Theileriidae) in the field. International Journal for Parasitology 14, 483–9.Google Scholar
Radley, D. E. (1978). FAO Technical Report 1. AG:DP/RAF/67/077. Rome.Google Scholar
Uilenberg, G. (1981). Theilerial species of livestock. In Advances in the Control of Theileriosis (ed. Irvin, A. D., Cunningham, M. P. and Young, A. S.). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.Google Scholar
Wilde, J. K. (1967). East Coast fever. Advances in Veterinary Science 1, 207–59.Google Scholar
Young, A. S. (1981). The epidemiology of Theileriosis in East Africa. In Advances in the Control of Theileriosis (ed. Irvin, A. D, Cunningham, M. P. and Young, A. S.), pp. 3855. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, A. S., Brown, C. G. D., Burridge, M. J., Cunningham, M. P., Kirimi, I. M. & Irvin, A. D. (1973). Observations on the cross-immunity between Theileria lawrencei (Serengeti) and Theileria parva (Muguga) in cattle. International Journal for Parasitology 3, 723–8.Google Scholar
Young, A. S., Brown, C. G. D., Burridge, M. J., Grootenhuis, J. G., Kanhai, G. K., Purnell, R. E. & Stagg, D. A. (1978 a). Incidence of theilerial parasites in East Africa buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 29, 281–8.Google Scholar
Young, A. S., Brown, C. G. D., Cunningham, M. P. & Radley, D. E. (1978 b). Evaluation of immunization against Theileria lawrencei. In Tick-borne Diseases and their Vectors (ed. Wilde, J. K. H), pp. 292296. Edinburgh: Centre for Tropical Veterinary Medicine.Google Scholar
Young, A. S. & Grootenhuis, J. G. (1985). Influence of wildlife on immunization of cattle against Theileriosis in East Africa. In Immunization against Theileriosis in Africa (ed. Irvin, A. D.), pp. 104109. Nairobi: ILRAD.Google Scholar
Young, A. S. & Leitch, B. L. (1982). Epidemiology of East Coast fever: some effects of temperature on the development of Theileria parva in the tick vector Rhipicephalus appendiculatus. Parasitology 83, 199211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Young, A. S., Leitch, B. L., Dolan, T.T., Newson, R. M., Ngumi, P. M. & Omwoyo, P. L. (1983). Transmission of Theileria parva by a population of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus under simulated natural conditions. Parasitology 86, 255–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Young, A. S., Leitch, B. L., Stagg, D. A. & Dolan, T. T. (1983). Identification of Theileria infections in living salivary glands of ticks. Parasitology 86, 519–28.Google Scholar
Young, A. S. & Newson, R. M. (1974). An improved method of handling ticks collected in the field. Research in Veterinary Science 15, 133–5.Google Scholar