Attempted Transmission of Theileria Gorgonis, Brocklesby & Vidler 1961, From Blue Wildebeest (Connochaetes Taurinus) to Cattle

Abstract

Two blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) from the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania and two from Kenya were splenectomised. Of the two from Tanzania, one that had previously had detectable intra-erythrocytic piroplasms of Theileria gorgonis showed an increase in parasitaemia (percentage of erythrocytes infected) to 7%, and the other, which had had no detectable parasites, developed a low-level parasitaemia. The two animals from Kenya had severely exacerbated infections with T. gorgonis and in one case a concomitant infection with Anaplasma marginale. They developed Theileria parasitaemias of more than 70% and died. Attempts to transmit T. gorgonis to steers by means of adults of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Neum. that had fed as nymphs on infected wildebeest were unsuccessful, although it was shown that the parasite became established in the ticks. Some 500 ticks were used on each steer.