Attempts to Infect Some Small Laboratory Animals with Theileria parva

Abstract

Research on East coast fever(T. parva infection) has been considerably hampered by the lack of a small laboratory host animal. All investigations have to be undertaken using as experimental animals, cattle, which are both cumbersome and expensive. This fact led some investigators to seek an alternative in tissue culture (Tsur, Neitz and Pols, 1957; Brocklesby and Hawking, 1958) but none of these attempts was very successful. It is generally assumed that all small laboratory animals are insusceptible to infection with T. parva, but a search of the literature failed to reveal reports of any extensive attempts to infect such animals. Jansen (1952) splenectomized 2 dassies (Procavia capensis) 16 and 21 days after infestation with infected Rhipicephalus appendiculatus nymphae, but no development of T. parva took place. Barnett and Bailey (1955) were not able to infect a small number of rabbits, guinea-pigs or hamsters. Barnett (1956), however, succeeded in maintaining a parasitaemia in goats by the repeated intravenous injection of infected bovine blood. Ticks which fed on one of the goats subsequently transmitted the disease to cattle. It is probable that other attempts remain unpublished.