Ticks on livestock in St. Lucia

Garris, Glen I.; Scotland, Keith M.

doi:10.1016/0304-4017(85)90071-8

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The most prevalent Babesia species we found on cattle, B. bovis and B. bigemina , are transmitted by Rhipicephalus microplus which is very common in the Caribbean [ 29 ]. Although R. microplus has been found on sheep and goats in the Caribbean [ 28 ] and elsewhere [ 36 ] we found no evidence of transmission of B. bigemina or B. bovis in these small ruminants. We also found no evidence of the common small ruminant Babesia spp.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

“…When we applied our pan- Babesia FRET-qPCR to whole blood collected from five types of livestock from five Caribbean islands, we identified high prevalences of infections with Babesia species. This is not unexpected as the tick vectors of Babesia are common on livestock in the Caribbean [ 28 , 29 ] and there are reports of high infection rates with B. bigemina , B. bovis and B. caballi [ 30 – 35 ]. The most prevalent Babesia species we found on cattle, B. bovis and B. bigemina , are transmitted by Rhipicephalus microplus which is very common in the Caribbean [ 29 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are at least 13 tick species incriminated in the transmission of B. caballi of which Dermacentor ( Anocentor ) nitens is considered to be the major vector in Latin America [ 37 ]. The tropical horse tick, D. nitens , is common on horses and donkeys in the Caribbean [ 28 , 34 ] and can also be found on ruminants in the region [ 38 ] which might explain our findings of B. caballi in relatively high numbers of sheep and goats. Although we could find no reference to B. caballi infections in domestic ruminants, there is a report of a Babesia in desert bighorn sheep that had cross reacting antigens with B. caballi [ 39 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of a pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR and a survey of livestock from five Caribbean islands

Kelly

Zhang

et al. 2015

BMC Vet Res

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BackgroundBabesia spp. are tick-borne protozoan hemoparasites and the second most common blood-borne parasites of mammals, in particular domestic animals. We used the Clustal Multiple Alignment program and 18S rRNA gene sequences of 22 Babesia species from GenBank to develop a PCR that could detect a wide variety of Babesia spp. in a single reaction. The pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR we developed reliably detected B. gibsoni, B. canis, B. vogeli, B. microti, B. bovis, and B. divergens under controlled conditions but did not react with closely related species, mainly Hepatozoon americanum, Theileria equi, and Toxoplasma gondii.ResultsWhen we tested the pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR on DNA of whole blood from 752 cattle, sheep, goats, donkeys and horses from five Caribbean islands, we detected Babesia spp. expected to be present in the animals, mainly B. bovis and B. bigemina in cattle and B. caballi in horses and donkeys. Further, we found that animals were not uncommonly infected with species of Babesia usually associated with other hosts, mainly B. vogeli and B. gibsoni in cattle, sheep and goats, B. rossi in goats, and B. caballi in goats and sheep. Finally, the pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR enabled us to identify unknown species of Babesia in cattle, goats, sheep and donkeys.ConclusionsOverall, 70 % (525/752) of the animals we tested were positive confirming earlier limited studies that infections with Babesia spp. are common in livestock in the Caribbean.

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Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 81%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of a pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR and a survey of livestock from five Caribbean islands

Kelly

Zhang

et al. 2015

BMC Vet Res

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“…There is conflicting data that Amblyomma cajennense is a competent vector of T. equi [ 32 ] but the tick is localized to Jamaica, Trinidad, and Cuba in the Caribbean [ 30 ] and it appears, then, not to be the vector of T. equi we found on Nevis, St. Kitts, and Dominica. Dermacentor nitens , the tropical horse tick, is very common in the Caribbean and the tropical Americas [ 33 ]. Although there is no data on the competence of D. nitens as a vector of T. equi and there is contradictory epidemiological evidence [ 32 ], PCR positive D. nitens have been found [ 32 ] and Asgarali et al [ 16 ] have suggested that this tick is a vector in Trinidad.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular Detection ofTheileriaspp. in Livestock on Five Caribbean Islands

Zhang

Kelly

et al. 2015

BioMed Research International

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Theileria spp. are tick-transmitted, intracellular apicomplexan protozoan parasites infecting a wide range of animals. As there is very limited information on the prevalence of Theileria spp. in the Caribbean we used the recently described genus-specific pan-Theileria FRET-qPCR to identify infected animals in the region and a standard 18S rRNA gene PCR and sequencing to determine the species involved. We found Theileria spp. in 9% of the convenience samples of animals (n = 752) studied from five Caribbean islands. Donkeys (20.0%: 5/25) were most commonly infected, followed by sheep (17.4%, 25/144), cattle (6.8%; 22/325), goats (5.0%; 12/238), and horses (5.0%; 1/20). Six species of Theileria were identified: T. equi (donkeys, cattle, goats, and sheep), Theileria sp. OT3 (sheep and goats), Theileria sp. NG-2013a (cattle), Theileria sp. YW-2014 (donkeys), Theileria sp. B15a (goats), and Babesia vulpes or a closely related organism (sheep and goats). Only T. equi has been previously reported in the Caribbean. Our findings expand the known host ranges of Theileria spp. and the known distribution of the organisms around the world.

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“…These factors would also appear to influence camel dermatophilosis in the same way. The prevalence of bovine streptothricosis has been found to be higher among animals with Amblyomma variegatum ticks (4,12). These ticks are abundant on camels, especially where they are allowed to roam freely with no tick control measures.…”

Section: Dermatophilus Congolensis Infection On the Upper Eyelid Of Amentioning

confidence: 99%

Dermatophilosis in camels (Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758) in Kenya

Gitao

1992

Rev. Sci. Tech. OIE

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Natural dermatophilosis (caused by Dermatophilus congolensis Van Saceghem, 1915) has only recently been described in camels (Camelus dromedarius). Further work has shown that the disease is actually widespread. At the Ol Maisor farm where it was first diagnosed (in the Laikipia district of northern Kenya), detailed investigations have revealed that thirty camels (ten calves and twenty adult animals) were infected. The signs varied from mild to more than 50% skin involvement. Patches of wool on the rump were easily detachable with many hard, white crusts. Similarly, another twenty camels from a totally different area of northern Kenya (Samburu district) were found to be infected with D. congolensis. Bacterial isolation was used to confirm the diagnosis. At Ol Maisor farm, twenty sheep were also found to have severe dermatophilosis. There were scabs and many areas of wool shedding. The shed wool had crusts similar to those observed on camels. Experimental infection with D. congolensis isolated from camels was conducted, by means of scarification, on the skin of two goats. The same experimental infection was possible in two calves, taking two weeks to become established. After thirty days there were disseminated foci of infection on the heads of the calves, especially around the eyes. Although these findings cannot show the actual source of D. congolensis, it is possible that the same organism causes dermatophilosis in the different animals.

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Ticks on livestock in St. Lucia

Cited by 13 publications

References 7 publications

Development of a pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR and a survey of livestock from five Caribbean islands

Development of a pan-Babesia FRET-qPCR and a survey of livestock from five Caribbean islands

Molecular Detection ofTheileriaspp. in Livestock on Five Caribbean Islands

Dermatophilosis in camels (Camelus dromedarius Linnaeus, 1758) in Kenya

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