Economics of East Coast fever: a literature review

Abstract

East Coast fever (ECF) is a cattle disease caused by a protozoan parasite called Theileria parva (T. parva). Theileria parva is transmitted among cattle by ticks. It is endemic in parts of central, eastern, and southern Africa and imposes an economic burden through illness and death of approximately a half of a billion U.S. dollars annually. This paper reviews existing science on the economics of ECF. We utilize a conceptual model that defines primary categories of economic costs due to ECF and use it to organize a synthesis of the literature on aggregate and micro level direct costs of the disease and the costs and benefits related to various ECF management strategies. We then identify knowledge gaps to motivate for future research.

TurboID mapping reveals exportome of secreted intrinsically disordered proteins in the transforming parasiteTheileria annulata

“…Transforming Theileria species orchestrate profound host cell changes that resemble cancerous cell phenotypes (2)(3)(4). The resulting disease in cattle, prevalent in the Southern Hemisphere and parts of Asia, is characterized by fever, anemia, and massive lymph node enlargements mirroring lymphoma, with a high mortality rate and a devastating impact on local farming communities (5)(6)(7)(8). Despite similarities to cancer, including uncontrolled proliferation, invasiveness, and metastasis, the host cell DNA remains unaltered (9), making the intricate parasitic manipulation of basic cell biological signaling pathways in the host an intriguing system to study.…”