East Coast fever

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Kinete stage of Theileria parva in the transmitting tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Theileria-parva-kinete.jpg
Kinete stage of Theileria parva in the transmitting tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus
Brisket edema in theileriosis Brisket-edema-theileriosis.jpg
Brisket edema in theileriosis

East Coast fever, also known as theileriosis, is a disease of cattle which occurs in Africa and is caused by the protozoan parasite Theileria parva . The primary vector which spreads T. parva between cattle is a tick, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus . [1] East Coast fever is of major economic importance to livestock farmers in Africa, [2] killing at least one million cattle each year. [3] The disease occurs in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia. [3] In 2003, East Coast fever was introduced to Comoros by cattle imported from Tanzania. [4] It has been eradicated in South Africa. [3]

Contents

A more acute form of East Coast fever called corridor disease occurs when buffalo-derived T. parva is transmitted to cattle. [3] Another form, called January disease, only occurs over the winter months in Zimbabwe due to the tick lifecycle.[ citation needed ]

Native cattle are often resistant to the parasite, but not without symptoms. They are hosts to the parasite, but do not suffer as severely as foreign cattle. [5] [6]

Clinical signs and diagnosis

Mortality can be up to 100%, with death occurring around 18–30 days after the initial attachment of infected ticks, because the incubation required is around 10–25 days, and the parasite spreads quickly and is rather aggressive. [7]

Clinical signs include fever and enlarged lymph nodes near the tick bites.

Smears and stains can also be done to check for the parasite. Schizonts (meronts, or segmentors) can be found in infected lymphocytes. Pathology includes anorexia, dyspnea, corneal opacity, nasal discharge, frothy nasal discharge, diarrhea, pulmonary edema, leukopenia, and anemia. Endemic cattle given medication sometimes recover to varying degrees, or death follows due to blocked capillaries and parasites infecting the central nervous system. [8] Cattle in endemic areas which survive infection become carriers.[ citation needed ]

For diagnosis, post mortem findings are characteristic and mainly include damage to the lymphoid and respiratory systems.[ citation needed ]

Treatment and control

One study using the medicinal plant Peganum harmala showed it to have a lifesaving effect on cattle infected with East Coast fever. [9]

The classical treatment with tetracyclines (1970–1990) cannot provide efficiency more than 50%.[ citation needed ]

Since the early 1990s, buparvaquone is used in bovine theileriosis with remarkable results (90 to 98% recovery).[ citation needed ]

Other than the buparvaquones, other chemotherapeutic options are the parvaquones, e.g. Clexon. [10] Halofuginone lactate [11] has also been shown to have an 80.5% efficacy against Theirelia parva parva infections. The ultimate factor that causes death is pulmonary edema. In May 2010, a vaccine to protect cattle against East Coast fever reportedly had been approved and registered by the governments of Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania. [12] This consists of cryopreserved sporozoites from crushed ticks, but it is expensive and can cause disease.[ citation needed ]

Control of the disease relies on control of ticks of domestic animals. This is a major concern in tropical countries with large livestock populations, especially in the endemic area. Pesticides (acaricides) are applied in dipping baths or spray races, and cattle breeds with good ability to acquire immune resistance to the vector ticks are used.[ citation needed ]

Future treatment and control research will be informed by Gardner et al 2005's genome and protein expression and Bishop et al 2005's expression-by-stage and antigen results. [13]

History

This disease was first reported in southern Africa, south of the Zambezi river, in 1902. [14] It became known as East Coast fever after it was determined that the disease had originated in cattle imported from the East Coast of Africa. [14]

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Rift Valley fever (RVF) is a viral disease of humans and livestock that can cause mild to severe symptoms. The mild symptoms may include: fever, muscle pains, and headaches which often last for up to a week. The severe symptoms may include: loss of sight beginning three weeks after the infection, infections of the brain causing severe headaches and confusion, and bleeding together with liver problems which may occur within the first few days. Those who have bleeding have a chance of death as high as 50%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Q fever</span> Coxiella burnetii infection

Q fever or query fever is a disease caused by infection with Coxiella burnetii, a bacterium that affects humans and other animals. This organism is uncommon, but may be found in cattle, sheep, goats, and other domestic mammals, including cats and dogs. The infection results from inhalation of a spore-like small-cell variant, and from contact with the milk, urine, feces, vaginal mucus, or semen of infected animals. Rarely, the disease is tick-borne. The incubation period can range from 9 to 40 days. Humans are vulnerable to Q fever, and infection can result from even a few organisms. The bacterium is an obligate intracellular pathogenic parasite.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Babesiosis</span> Malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with the alveoate Babesia or Theileria

Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a Babesia or Theileria, in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via tick bite is most common in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and parts of Europe, and sporadic throughout the rest of the world. It occurs in warm weather. People can get infected with Babesia parasites by the bite of an infected tick, by getting a blood transfusion from an infected donor of blood products, or by congenital transmission . Ticks transmit the human strain of babesiosis, so it often presents with other tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease. After trypanosomes, Babesia is thought to be the second-most common blood parasite of mammals. They can have major adverse effects on the health of domestic animals in areas without severe winters. In cattle, the disease is known as Texas cattle fever or redwater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fasciolosis</span> Parasitic worm infection

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<i>Babesia</i> Genus of protozoan parasites

Babesia, also called Nuttallia, is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of Babesia have since been identified.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buparvaquone</span> Chemical compound

Buparvaquone is a naphthoquinone antiprotozoal drug related to atovaquone. It is a promising compound for the therapy and prophylaxis of all forms of theileriosis. Buparvaquone has been shown to have anti-leishmanial activity in vitro. It can be used to treat bovine East Coast fever protozoa in vitro, along with the only other substance known – Peganum harmala. It is the only really effective commercial therapeutic product against bovine theileriosis, where it has been used since the late 1980s.

<i>Theileria</i> Genus of single-celled organisms

Theileria is a genus of parasites that belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa, and is closely related to Plasmodium. Two Theileria species, T. annulata and T. parva, are important cattle parasites. T. annulata causes tropical theileriosis and T. parva causes East Coast fever. Theileria species are transmitted by ticks. The genomes of T. orientalis Shintoku, Theileria equi WA, Theileria annulata Ankara and Theileria parva Muguga have been sequenced and published.

<i>Babesia microti</i> Species of parasitic protist in the Apicomplexa phylum

Babesia microti is a parasitic blood-borne piroplasm transmitted by deer ticks. B. microti is responsible for the disease babesiosis, a malaria-like disease which also causes fever and hemolysis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protozoan infection</span> Parasitic disease caused by a protozoan

Protozoan infections are parasitic diseases caused by organisms formerly classified in the kingdom Protozoa. These organisms are now classified in the supergroups Excavata, Amoebozoa, Harosa, and Archaeplastida. They are usually contracted by either an insect vector or by contact with an infected substance or surface.

Theileriosis may refer to:

Tropical theileriosis or Mediterranean theileriosis is a theileriosis of cattle from the Mediterranean and Middle East area, from Morocco to Western parts of India and China. It is a tick-borne disease, caused by Theileria annulata. The vectors are ticks of the genera Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus.

Hematozoa is a subclass of blood parasites of the Apicomplexa clade. Well known examples include the Plasmodium spp. which cause malaria in humans and Theileria which causes theileriosis in cattle. A large number of species are known to infect birds and are transmitted by insect vectors. The pattern in which Haematozoa infect a host cell depends on the genera of the blood parasite. Plasmodium and Leucozytozoon displace the nucleus of the host cell so that the parasite can take control of the cell where as Hemoproteus completely envelops the nucleus in a host cell.

<i>Babesia bovis</i> Species of single-celled organism

Babesia bovis is an Apicomplexan single-celled parasite of cattle which occasionally infects humans. The disease it and other members of the genus Babesia cause is a hemolytic anemia known as babesiosis and colloquially called Texas cattle fever, redwater or piroplasmosis. It is transmitted by bites from infected larval ticks of the order Ixodida. It was eradicated from the United States by 1943, but is still present in Mexico and much of the world's tropics. The chief vector of Babesia species is the southern cattle fever tick Rhipicephalus microplus.

<i>Theileria parva</i> Species of single-celled organism

Theileria parva is a species of parasites, named in honour of Arnold Theiler, that causes East Coast fever (theileriosis) in cattle, a costly disease in Africa. The main vector for T. parva is the tick Rhipicephalus appendiculatus. Theiler found that East Coast fever was not the same as redwater, but caused by a different protozoan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ticks of domestic animals</span>

Ticks of domestic animals directly cause poor health and loss of production to their hosts. Ticks also transmit numerous kinds of viruses, bacteria, and protozoa between domestic animals. These microbes cause diseases which can be severely debilitating or fatal to domestic animals, and may also affect humans. Ticks are especially important to domestic animals in tropical and subtropical countries, where the warm climate enables many species to flourish. Also, the large populations of wild animals in warm countries provide a reservoir of ticks and infective microbes that spread to domestic animals. Farmers of livestock animals use many methods to control ticks, and related treatments are used to reduce infestation of companion animals.

Brian Derek Perry, OBE is a British veterinary surgeon and epidemiologist renowned for the integration of veterinary epidemiology and agricultural economics, as a tool for disease control policy and strategy development, and specialised in international agricultural development. He is an Honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh, a Visiting Professor at the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. P. Lounsbury</span> American entomologist

Charles Pugsley Lounsbury was an American-born South African entomologist, widely regarded as having laid the foundations of economic entomology in Southern Africa.

The Global Alliance for Livestock Veterinary Medicines (GALVmed), formerly the Global Alliance for Livestock Vaccines (GALV), is a not-for-profit livestock health product development and access partnership. It operates as a public-private partnership and a UK registered charity headquartered in Edinburgh.

<i>Rhipicephalus appendiculatus</i> Species of tick

Rhipicephalus appendiculatus, the brown ear tick, is a hard tick found in Africa where it spreads the parasite Theileria parva, the cause of East Coast fever in cattle. The tick has a three-host life-cycle, spending around 10% of its life feeding on animals. The most common host species include buffalo, cattle, and large antelope, but R. appendiculatus is also found on other animals, such as hares, dogs, and warthogs.

References

  1. Olwoch JM, Reyers B, Engelbrecht FA, Erasmus BF (2008). "Climate change and the tick-borne disease, Theileriosis (East Coast fever) in sub-Saharan Africa". Journal of Arid Environments. 72 (2): 108–20. doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2007.04.003.
  2. "Protecting Africa's cattle with a live vaccine: An East Coast fever impact narrative". ILRI Research Brief. No. 24. International Livestock Research Institute. September 2014. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Nene, V; Kiara, H; Lacasta, A; Pelle, R; Svitek, N; Steinaa, L (June 2016). "The biology of Theileria parva and control of East Coast fever - Current status and future trends". Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases. 7 (4): 549–64. doi: 10.1016/j.ttbdis.2016.02.001 . PMID   26972687. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  4. Gachohi, J; Skilton, R; Hansen, F; Ngumi, P; Kitala, P (7 September 2012). "Epidemiology of East Coast fever (Theileria parva infection) in Kenya: past, present and the future". Parasites & Vectors. 5: 194. doi: 10.1186/1756-3305-5-194 . PMC   3465218 . PMID   22958352.
  5. Norval RA, Perry BD, Young AS (1992). The Epidemiology of Theileriosis in Africa. London: Academic Press. ISBN   978-0-12-521740-8.
  6. International Livestock Research Institute
  7. RAI Norval, BD Perry, AS Young (January 1992). The epidemiology of theileriosis in Africa. ILRI (aka ILCA and ILRAD). ISBN   9780125217408.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Morrison WI, Goddeeris BM, Brown WC, Baldwin CL, Teale AJ (February 1989). "Theileria parva in cattle: characterization of infected lymphocytes and the immune responses they provoke". Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 20 (3): 213–37. doi:10.1016/0165-2427(89)90003-2. PMID   2497579.
  9. Derakhshanfar A, Mirzaei M (March 2008). "Effect of Peganum harmala (wild rue) extract on experimental ovine malignant theileriosis: pathological and parasitological findings". Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 75 (1): 67–72. doi: 10.4102/ojvr.v75i1.90 . PMID   18575066.
  10. ILRI. "Treatment of East coast Fever using Clexon in Uganda". Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-05-26.
  11. PubMed (June 1987). "Clinical Trial of Halofuginone Lactate for the Treatment of East Coast Fever in Kenya". Vet. Rec. 120 (24): 575–7. doi:10.1136/vr.120.24.575. PMID   3303642. S2CID   29609988.
  12. "Cattle disease vaccine launched 30 years after invention". 2010-05-07. SciDev.net (7 May 2010).
  13. Morrison, W. Ivan; Connelley, Timothy; Hemmink, Johanneke D.; MacHugh, Niall D. (2015-02-16). "Understanding the Basis of Parasite Strain-Restricted Immunity to Theileria parva". Annual Review of Animal Biosciences . 3 (1). Annual Reviews: 397–418. doi:10.1146/annurev-animal-022513-114152. ISSN   2165-8102.
  14. 1 2 Norval, R.A.I.; Perry, B.D.; Young, A.S. (1992). "Chapter 1.1 The epidemiology of East Coast fever. Introduction". The epidemiology of theileriosis in Africa. London: Academic Press. pp. 2–3. ISBN   9780125217408.