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Biomedical subjects

F Jongejan

Publications and source records attributed to F Jongejan.

87 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Biology of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. zambeziensis and production of a fertile hybrid under laboratory conditions.

In some areas of Eastern and Southern provinces of Zambia Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. zambeziensis are sympatric, and numerous intermediate forms as well as typical R. appendiculatus and R. zambeziensis are found. Experiments were carried out in order to clarify the taxonomic status of the intermediate forms. Biology and hybridization capacities of two strains of R. appendiculatus (A and D) and one strain of R. zambeziensis (H) were studied. Infestations on rabbits and calves were performed at the beginning and at the end of the Zambian rainy season. The adults of both species showed preference for the bovine host and performed better at the end of the rainy season. A recently isolated strain of R. appendiculatus had notably higher larval production per unit engorgement weight than the strain that had been maintained for prolonged periods under laboratory conditions. R. zambeziensis produces fewer larvae and had longer development periods than R. appendiculatus. The two species cross-breed under laboratory conditions. A fertile hybrid is produced by R. zambeziensis females and R. appendiculatus males, whereas a sterile hybrid is a result of a reciprocal cross. Morphology of adults of the fertile hybrid (H/A) is indistinguishable from the maternal species, whereas adults of the sterile hybrid (A/H) are of maternal, paternal and intermediate forms. Larval production indices (LPI) vary from 0.4 to 3.7 for the H (females) X A (males) cross, approximately three-fold less than in the maternal species. For the reciprocal cross, LPI ranges from 0.1 to 2.7, five- to thirty-fold less than in the maternal species. The fertile hybrid has a higher LPI than both first crosses, and under the most favourable climatic conditions LPI is even higher than for the maternal species. Adults of the sterile hybrid rarely formed pairs. Only partially engorged female ticks detached, which produced no viable eggs. Both hybrids may occur in areas where the two species are sympatric. However, detailed field studies will have to be performed in order to gain knowledge on population dynamics, interbreeding and the vector role of the two species and their hybrids under field conditions.

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Transmission of a Trypanosoma sp. to cattle by the tick Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum.

Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum engorged nymphs and flat adults were collected from two areas in northern Sudan. Various developing stages of Trypanosoma theileri-like flagellates were observed in the engorged nymphs, freshly moulted adults and mature adults partially engorged on rabbits. When these ticks were applied to two calves, one calf became infected with the trypanosome. The parasites were observed for one day in the enlarged lymph node nearest to the tick-feeding site 5 days after the tick application. Subsequently the trypanosomes were re-isolated in vitro from the infected calf. Inoculation of a ground-up tick supernatant suspension from the infected batch of ticks containing 10(4) trypanosomes into a calf did not produce a patent infection.

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Bovine babesiosis (Babesia bovis infection) in Zambia.

Two cases of Babesia bovis, a parasite associated with the tick Boophilus microplus, are reported for the first time from the central part of Zambia. It is concluded that infected B. microplus ticks are occasionally introduced into central Zambia by tick-infested cattle from the north-eastern part of the country where B. bovis is endemic. The spread of B. microplus in Southern Africa in a westward direction is discussed and related to the epidemiology of bovine babesiosis in Zambia.

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Theileria taurotragi in Zambia.

Theileria sp. (Bwengwa) of low virulence was isolated by feeding R. appendiculatus ticks collected from the field on a susceptible calf and subsequently transmitted between cattle by R. appendiculatus ticks- Theileria sp. (Bwengwa) was shown to be T. taurotragi on parasitological, clinical and serological grounds. T. taurotragi is the fourth Theileria sp. shown to be present in Zambia.

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Isolation and transmission of Cowdria ruminantium (causal agent of heartwater disease) in Blue Nile Province, Sudan.

Heartwater was diagnosed in sheep at the Umm Banein Livestock Research Station, Blue Nile Province, Sudan. Cowdria ruminantium was isolated from sheep by subinoculation of blood into a goat. Adult Amblyomma lepidum ticks fed as nymphs on this goat transmitted heartwater to a Friesian (Bos taurus) calf. Brain stabilates from this calf, either snap-frozen into liquid nitrogen or frozen slowly in a deepfreezer at -70 degrees C, with DMSO as cryoprotectant, were infective to cattle when inoculated subcutaneously.

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Cultivation of Theileria. I. Attempts to complete the cycle of Theileria parva in vitro.

Microschizonts and free merozoites developed in bovine lymphoblastoid cell cultures containing macroschizonts of 6 different strains of Theileria parva. Clean bovine red cells were added to the cultures, which were incubated in various ways. No penetration of red cells by merozoites was observed, not even when cultures in diffusion chambers were introduced into the peritoneal cavity of non-infected cattle.

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Cultivation of Theileria. II. Attempts to cultivate erythrocytic stages of Theileria mutans.

Blood from calves with a parasitaemia of Theileria mutans was cultivated in vitro in various ways. No significant increase in the percentage of infected red cells was observed, but the percentage of dividing forms of the parasite rose sharply during the first two days of incubation. The conditions of the cultures were apparently unsuitable for the invasion of erythrocytes.

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Isolation and transmission of Theileria mutans (Chisamba) in Zambia.

Theileria mutans (Chisamba) was isolated from a steer at Chisamba, Central Province, Zambia by inoculation of blood into a susceptible unsplenectomised calf. The parasite was then transmitted on three occasions by nymphs and once by adult Amblyomma variegatum ticks. Macroschizonts, typical for T mutans, were detected in two calves for short periods. The parasite caused varying degrees of anaemia in all experimental calves, whose sera showed high antibody titres to T mutans in the indirect fluorescent antibody test.

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Infection rates of Theileria annulata in the salivary glands of the tick Hyalomma marginatum rufipes.

Theileria annulata was experimentally transmitted to cattle on two occasions by the two-host tick Hyalomma marginatum rufipes. Transmission was transstadial; engorged nymphs fed on Theileria annulata-infected calves transmitted the disease as adults. Salivary glands of all partially fed and incubated adult ticks were heavily infected with Theileria parasites. Immatures attached rapidly and fed successfully on cattle. However, since the immature stages of this species normally feed on birds, this tick is unlikely to be an important vector in the field.

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Natural infection rates of Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum with theileria in Sudan.

Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum ticks were collected around cattle pens at two locations close to Khartoum. They were assessed for theileria infection by four methods. Salivary glands were stained whole with methyl green pyronin and examined for parasite masses. Adult ticks were partially fed on rabbits, ground up in medium, and the suspensions were examined in Giemsa stained smears and by inoculation into bovine lymphocyte cultures. Ticks were fully fed on calves which were monitored for developing theileriosis. H a anatolicum were found infected with parasite masses similar to those seen in experimental infections with T annulata. At one site 38 per cent of 102 ticks were infected and the mean number of parasite masses per tick for the whole sample was 37. At the other site 86 per cent of 156 ticks were similarly infected and the mean parasite masses per tick was 19.5. Suspensions of sporozoites contained sporozoites typical of those found in experimental preparations of T annulata. Sporozoites harvested from ticks from both locations infected and transformed normal bovine lymphocyte cultures. H a anatolicum ticks from both locations produced fatal theileria infection in susceptible calves.

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The influence of various bovine sera on the maintenance of Theileria parva lymphoblastoid cell culture.

Theileria parva infected lymphoblastoid bovine cells were grown in a medium based on HEPES-buffered RPMI 1640 with glutamine and antibiotics, supplemented with bovine serum. There were no significant differences in growth rate, viability, and percentage of infected cells when the substrate contained 10 or 20 per cent of either commercially available newborn calf serum of serum prepared from adult non-infected Friesian cattle or of serum prepared from a Friesian calf immunised against East Coast fever and having a high titre of antibodies to T. parva antigen in the indirect fluorescent antibody test. If studies showing that newborn calf serum gives results in the establishment and maintenance of T. parva cell culture similar to those of foetal calf serum are confirmed, this finding could mean an appreciable saving in the cost of in vitro work on this parasite.

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Artificial infection of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus with Theileria parva by percutaneous injection.

Rhipicephalus appendiculatus nymphs were inoculated with fresh or cryopreserved blood containing Theileria parva piroplasms, or with cell culture grown stages of T parva. The use of fresh blood was successful. Cryopreserved blood containing dimethylsulphoxide (DMSO), killed most nymphs after inoculation: DMSO could be removed by slow dialysis, without destroying the infectivity of the blood. Attempts to infect ticks by inoculating cell culture grown stages of T parva failed, even when large numbers of merozoites were present in the inoculum.

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Cowdria ruminantium (Rickettsiales) in primary goat kidney cell cultures.

Fresh or cryopreserved kidney tissue from goats suffering from heart water (Cowdria ruminantium infection) was infective when inoculated intravenously into susceptible goats. Primary kidney cell cultures were established from 14 goats reacting to C ruminantium infection; they were tested for infectivity by intravenous injection into susceptible goats after periods varying from five to 31 days. Three cultures, five, 12 and 13 days old, induced heartwater in recipients. The other 11 cultures, varying in age from six to 31 days, did not cause any reaction and all 11 recipient goats died from heartwater on challenge. C ruminantium could not be detected microscopically in the cell cultures.

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