Integrative management of wildlife and livestock requires a clear understanding of the diseases transmitted between the two populations. The tick-borne protozoan parasite Theileria parva causes two distinct diseases in cattle, East Coast fever and Corridor disease, following infection with parasites derived from cattle or buffalo, respectively. In this study, cattle were immunized with a live s...

The development of sensitive surveillance technologies using PCR-based detection of microbial DNA, such as the reverse line blot assay, can facilitate the gathering of epidemiological information on tick-borne diseases, which continue to hamper the productivity of livestock in many parts of Africa and elsewhere. We have employed a reverse line blot assay to detect the prevalence of tick-borne p...

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 ...

A case of bovine cerebral theileriosis was confirmed at autopsy on a farm where 4 animals out of 70 died. All were less than 2 years old and all showed nervous signs. Serologically, no evidence was found of Theileria mutans or the Theileria parva group in young animals born on the farm. Six out of 13 calves 6-9 months of age were, however, serologically positive for Theileria? taurotragi and it...

The Tac antigen component of the bovine interleukin-2 receptor was expressed as a Cro-beta-galactosidase fusion protein in Escherichia coli and used to raise antibodies in rabbits. These antibodies were used for flow cytofluorimetric analysis to investigate the expression of Tac antigen in a variety of Theileria parva-infected cell lines and also in three Theileria annulata-infected cell lines....

Mitochondrial (mt) genomes from diverse phylogenetic groups vary considerably in size, structure, and organization. The genus Plasmodium, causative agent of malaria, of the phylum Apicomplexa, has the smallest mt genome in the form of a circular and/or tandemly repeated linear element of 6 kb, encoding only three protein genes (cox1, cox3, and cob). The closely related genera Babesia and Theile...

The Theileria parva carrier-state in cattle on commercial farms on Zimbabwe was investigated using parasitological and serological methods. The proportion of cattle showing Theileria piroplasms on two farms, which had recent histories of disease outbreaks, were 64% (n = 106, total of heifers and weaned calves examined) and 71.5% (n = 60) while the proportion of T. parva antibodies for the same ...

A population-based study was carried out on the Ankole ranching scheme in south-west Uganda with the aim of determining the endemic status of Theileria parva infections. For this purpose, the age-related sero-prevalence of T. parva and the specific calf mortality associated with the parasite were assessed. Blood samples were collected from 931 Ankole calves of up to 12 months of age from 81 ran...

Despite having different cell tropism, the pathogenesis and immunobiology of the diseases caused by Theileria parva and Theileria annulata are remarkably similar. Live vaccines have been available for both parasites for over 40 years, but although they provide strong protection, practical disadvantages have limited their widespread application. Efforts to develop alternative vaccines using defi...

The published genomic sequences of the two major host-transforming Theileria species of cattle represent a rich resource of information that has allowed novel bioinformatic and experimental studies into these important apicomplexan parasites. Since their publication in 2005, the genomes of T. annulata and T. parva have been utilised for a diverse range of applications, ranging from candidate an...