heartwater – F.I.G.H.T for your health! http://lymebook.com/fight Linda Heming describes her Lyme disease healing journey Wed, 06 Nov 2013 05:54:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.25 Tick-borne diseases in Zambia! http://lymebook.com/fight/tick-borne-diseases-in-zambia/ http://lymebook.com/fight/tick-borne-diseases-in-zambia/#respond Sat, 22 Jan 2011 05:57:18 +0000 http://lymebook.com/fight/?p=2063 Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21106294&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

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

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Persistence mechanisms in tick-borne diseases http://lymebook.com/fight/persistence-mechanisms-in-tick-borne-diseases/ http://lymebook.com/fight/persistence-mechanisms-in-tick-borne-diseases/#respond Tue, 22 Dec 2009 07:10:40 +0000 http://lymebook.com/fight/?p=703 The use of new, highly sensitive diagnostic methods has revealed persistent
infections to be a common feature of different tick-borne diseases, such as
babesiosis, anaplasmosis and heartwater. Antigenic variation can contribute to
disease persistence through the continual elaboration of new surface structures,
and we know in several instances how this is achieved.

Known or suspected mechanisms of persistence in babesial parasites include cytoadhesion and rapid
variation of the adhesive ligand in Babesia bovis and genetic diversity in
several merozoite stage proteins of different Babesia spp. In Anaplasma,
extensive variation in the pfam01617 gene family accompanies cycling of organism
levels in chronic infection. One result from the pioneering research at
Onderstepoort is the definition of a related polymorphic gene family that is
likely involved in immunity against heartwater disease. We are beginning to
understand the sizes of the antigenic repertoires and full definition is close,
with the possibility of applying simultaneous high-throughput sequencing to the
order of 1000 small genomes. We also, for the first time, can consider modifying
these genomes and looking at effects on persistence and virulence. However,
important biological questions remain unanswered; for example, why we are seeing
a new emerging Anaplasma infection of humans and is infection of endothelial
cells by Anaplasma significant to persistence in vivo.

http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=19967928&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks
PMID: 19967928  [PubMed – in process]

Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 2009 Mar;76(1):53-8.

Persistence mechanisms in tick-borne diseases.

Barbet AF.

Department of Infectious Diseases & Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA.

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