The poultry disease coccidiosis, caused by infection with Eimeria spp. apicomplexan parasites, is responsible for enormous economic losses to the global poultry industry. The rapid increase of resistance to therapeutic agents, as well as the expense of vaccination with live attenuated vaccines, requires the development of new effective treatments for coccidiosis. Because of their key regulatory...

Faecal samples from 230 diarrhoeic and healthy calves aged 0–6 weeks, from 100 farms in Austria, were examined between October 2004 and February 2005 for the presence of bacteria, especially Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), viruses and parasites. Escherichia coli was detected in 17% of all the faecal samples and was more prevalent in healthy calves. However, E. coli F5 was identif...

The prevalence of Eimeria in sheep in Australia has not been well described, therefore a quantitative PCR (qPCR) was developed, validated and used to study the prevalence and oocyst concentration in lamb faecal samples at three sampling periods (weaning, post-weaning and pre-slaughter) from eight farms across South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. A total of 3412 faec...

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence and intensity of parasitic gastrointestinal infections in free-range chickens from the West Pomerania province. Experimental material for the study was taken from 10 farms. Breeds raised in farms participating in the study included miniature chickens called Polish Lilliputians and Green- legged Partridge. A total of 104 samples of faeces were...

Coccidiosis caused by Eimeria spp. is a common parasitic disease posing a serious problem in pigeon keeping. The aim of the study was to determine the species composition, the degree of coccidia infection and the effect of the coccidiostat used in the course of the disease in two pigeon lofts located in the West Pomerania province. The material for the study came from 180 birds. A total of 330 ...

Apicomplexan parasites are responsible for a myriad of diseases in humans and livestock; yet despite intensive effort, development of effective sub-unit vaccines remains a long-term goal. Antigenic complexity and our inability to identify protective antigens from the pool that induce response are serious challenges in the development of new vaccines. Using a combination of parasite genetics and...

An improved polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based method for determining the species composition of Eimeria in poultry litter was developed by incorporating species-specific internal standards in the assay. Internal standard molecules were prepared by fusing seven different Eimeria species-specific intervening transcribed sequence 1 (ITS1) rDNA primer pairs to a non-Eimeria DNA molecule and by ...

An intestinal Eimeria was previously reported as a significant pathogen of Asian seabass (Lates calcarifer) in nurseries in Vietnam. In the present study, both Eimeria and Cryptosporidium were detected by sequence analyses of fragments of the 18S rRNA gene amplified from these Vietnamese L. calcarifer tissues. Based on these analyses, the Eimeria from the Vietnamese L. calcarifer formed clades ...

A full-length cDNA encoding chicken tumor necrosis factor superfamily 15 (TNFSF15) was isolated and its functional role was investigated. TNFSF15 transcripts were primarily expressed in spleen, liver, intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IEL), peripheral blood lymphocytes and bursa. In vitro infection of HTC macrophages with three species of Eimeria sporozoites induced TNFSF15 gene expressio...

A cross-sectional study was carried out to determine the prevalence, species composition, and associated risk factors with Eimeria infection in calves of 40 dairy farms in Addis Ababa city and Debre Zeit town. Of the total 580 calves examined for Eimeria infection, 68.1% (395) were infected with 1 or more Eimeria species. A total of 11 species of Eimeria were identified. The most prevalent was ...