We have evaluated a new simple technique using whole blood from experimentally infected cattle for the isolation and cultivation of Theileria annulata. The study was carried out on 20 Holstein-Frisian bovines that had been experimentally infected with a virulent lethal dose of Theileria annulata. This technique has been compared to the classical peripheral blood monocyte isolation with Ficoll c...

Harlanjohnsonella annulata Elliott in Granier & Deloffre, 1993, non 1968, was originally described from Cenomanian strata in Serbia. Herein, we report its first occurrence outside the type area, i.e., in Lebanon, and in older strata, i.e., earliest Bedoulian or Late Barremian in age. Our specimens are compared with topotypic material. The species was recently revised by Radoičić & Schlagintweit...

The intracellular stages of apicomplexan parasites are known to extensively modify their host cells to ensure their own survival. Recently, considerable progress has been made in understanding the molecular details of these parasite-dependent effects for Plasmodium-, Toxoplasma- and Theileria-infected cells. We have begun to understand how Plasmodium liver stage parasites protect their host hep...

Fifty-nine Hereford cattle susceptible to tick-borne diseases were used as tracer animals to assess the tick challenge and pathogenicity of Theileria parva under field conditions in Zimbabwe. They were moved periodically in groups of five to three commercial farms (one group consisted of four) during seasons of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus nymphal and adult activity. All tracer cattle were herd...

Sequence variation within the 18S SSU rRNA V4 hyper-variable region can affect the accuracy of real-time hybridization probe-based diagnostics for the detection of Theileria spp. infections. This is relevant for assays that use non-specific primers, such as the real-time hybridization assay for T. parva (Sibeko et al. 2008). To assess the effect of sequence variation on this test, the Theileria...

Erythrocyte-stage Babesia equi expresses a 34-kDa immunodominant antigen recognized by antibody from persistently infected horses worldwide. This erythrocyte-stage surface protein, equi merozoite antigen-1 (EMA-1) is encoded by a single copy gene, and was previously shown to share 33% amino acid identity with similar sized proteins of Theileria sergenti and T. buffeli. A mean homology of 31% am...

Tick-borne hemoparasites (TBHs) are a group of pathogens of concern in animal management because they are associated with a diversity of hosts, including both wild and domestic species. However, little is known about how frequently TBHs are shared across the wildlife-livestock interface in natural settings. Here, we compared the TBHs of wild Grant's gazelle (Nanger granti) and domestic sheep (O...

The Theileria genus includes a large number of species of tick-borne parasites that infect domestic animals and wildlife species, predominantly ruminants. These range from species, such as T. parva and T. annulata, which cause acute lymphoproliferative diseases in cattle resulting in high levels of mortality, to others that are non-pathogenic. In the last decade, several new pathogenic species ...

Tick-borne diseases are a major impediment to improved productivity of livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. Improved control of these diseases would be assisted by detailed epidemiological data. Here we used longitudinal, serological data to determine the patterns of exposure to Theileria parva, Theileria mutans, Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale from 548 indigenous calves in western Kenya. ...

in order to develop a method for detecting and identification of theileria annulata, the specific primers from the major merozoite-piroplasm surface antigen sequence of theileria (tams1) were used to detect the t. annulata by nested-pcr technique. the assay provides a valuable tool for the identification of theileria annulata directly from clinical samples and enables determination of the infec...