Preliminary Observations on a Theilerial Species Pathogenic to Cattle Isolated from Buffalo (Syncerus Caffer) in Tanzania

Abstract

A theilerial species, pathogenic to cattle, and resembling Theileria lawrencei, was isolated from two buffalo captured in the Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. When nymphal Rhicephalus appendiculatus ticks were fed on the buffalo, on four out of six occasions the resultant adults were shown to be capable of causing highly pathogenic T. lawrencei-type infections in cattle. Aspects of the life cycle of the parasite in both ticks and cattle were studied. Its development in the tick was apparently similar to that of T. parva, and, in cattle, only differed from T. parva by causing the host’s death when relatively few lymphocytes were infected with macroschizonts and when neither microschizonts nor piroplasms were detectable. The parasite was designated T. lawrencei (Serengeti).