Morphological findings in bovine cerebral theileriasis (BCT)

Bovine cerebral theileriosis: first molecular report in cross bred cattle calf in India

Bovine tropical theileriosis caused by Theileria annulata, is a serious constraint to Indian dairy industry with more fatal infections in exotic cattle and substantial losses to cross-bred and indigenous zebu cattle. The present communication is to place on record the first report of molecular based confirmed case of cerebral theileriosis caused by T. annulata coupled with its morphological detection, clinical manifestations, haematological alterations and therapeutic management in a cross bred cattle calf from India. After preparation of peripheral thin blood smear from cross bred cattle calf at the site of collection and fixation with methanol, blood sample brought to Department of Veterinary Parasitology, College of Veterinary Science and A.H, Jabalpur and stained by standard protocol for Giemsa staining. Genomic DNA was isolated from the collected blood sample using QIAamp® DNA blood mini kit following the manufacturer's recommendations and PCR was performed. The cross bred cow calf revealed high rise in temperature (105.5°F), increased heart rate, labored breathing with seromucous nasal discharge, enlargement of prescapular lymph node and animal exhibited tonic clonic convulsions in response to any sudden noise. Giemsa stained thin blood smear revealed intraerythrocytic piroplasm and Koch'sblue bodies of T. annulata within the cytoplasm of lymphocytes. The species of Theileria was confirmed by molecular amplification of genomic DNA as T. annulata.

Theileria parva: reappearance of schizonts in infected lymphoblastoid cells treated with parvaquone is dependent on interleukin 2-like growth factors

Schizont-infected cell lines derived by in vitro infection of bovine T cell clones with the Muguga isolate of Theileria parva were treated for 72 hr with the theileriacidal drug, parvaquone, at a concentration of 10 micrograms/ml. This treatment completely eliminated schizonts from the recovered cells, which failed to undergo further proliferation and died. However, treated cells cultured with either bovine T cell growth factor or human recombinant interleukin 2 remained viable, underwent proliferation, and in many instances, schizonts reappeared. When cultured in the presence of supernatant obtained from an actively growing T. parva-infected cell line, treated cells did not proliferate, but schizonts reappeared. The cells became transformed by the parasite and grew continuously in the absence of exogenous growth factor. The appearance of schizonts was preceded by the development of densely staining intracytoplasmic inclusions, visualized by light and electron microscopy. Electron-dense inclusions were shown to contain DNA. Hybridization of a T. parva-specific DNA probe to Southern blots of restriction enzyme-digested DNA prepared from parvaquone-treated cells which developed inclusions but not schizonts produced a pattern similar to that seen with DNA prepared from schizont-infected cells. We conclude that reorganization of schizonts can occur in T. parva-infected T lymphocytes cured of infection with parvaquone in the presence of interleukin 2 or growth factors produced by T. parva-infected cells. The implications of these results for the establishment of a carrier state following parvaquone therapy are discussed.