Tick-borne diseases in Zambia!
By Linda on Jan 22, 2011 in Infections | comments(0)
Excerpt:
Tick-borne diseases are a constraint to livestock production in many
developing countries as they cause high morbidity and mortality, which
results in decreased production of meat, milk and other livestock
by-products. The most important tick-borne diseases of livestock in
sub-Saharan Africa are East Coast fever (caused by Theileria parva),
babesiosis (caused by Babesia bigemina and B.
bovis), anaplasmosis (caused by Anaplasma marginale) and heartwater (caused
by Ehrlichia ruminantium). Despite their economic importance, information on
the epidemiology of these diseases in many countries, including Zambia, is
often inadequate, making rational disease control strategies difficult to
implement.
In this study 18S and 16S rRNA gene PCR assays were used for a comprehensive
epidemiological analysis of tick-borne disease of cattle in three provinces
of Zambia (Lusaka, Central and Eastern). All the disease pathogens under
study (T.
parva, T. mutans, T. taurotragi, B. bovis, B. bigemina, Anaplasma spp and E.
ruminantium) were prevalent in each of the provinces surveyed. However,
variation was observed in prevalence between regions and seasons. There was
no association between live vaccination against East Coast fever and being
PCR positive for T. parva. A number of risk factors were shown to be
associated with
(a) the occurrence of tick-borne pathogens in cattle and (b) cattle tick
burdens in the wet season. A negative association was observed between the
number of co-infecting pathogens and the erythrocyte packed cell volume
(PCV) of carrier cattle. Crown Copyright (c) 2010. Published by Elsevier
B.V. All rights reserved
