Journal article
Persistently infected horses are reservoirs for intrastadial tick-borne transmission of the apicomplexan parasite Babesia equi
Infection and immunity, Vol.76(8), pp.3525-3529
08/2008
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/112221
PMCID: PMC2493223
PMID: 18490466
Abstract
Tick-borne pathogens may be transmitted intrastadially and transstadially within a single vector generation as well as vertically between generations. Understanding the mode and relative efficiency of this transmission is required for infection control. In this study, we established that adult male Rhipicephalus microplus ticks efficiently acquire the protozoal pathogen Babesia equi during acute and persistent infections and transmit it intrastadially to naïve horses. Although the level of parasitemia during acquisition feeding affected the efficiency of the initial tick infection, infected ticks developed levels of > or =10(4) organisms/pair of salivary glands independent of the level of parasitemia during acquisition feeding and successfully transmitted them, indicating that replication within the tick compensated for any initial differences in infectious dose and exceeded the threshold for transmission. During the development of B. equi parasites in the salivary gland granular acini, the parasites expressed levels of paralogous surface proteins significantly different from those expressed by intraerythrocytic parasites from the mammalian host. In contrast to the successful intrastadial transmission, adult female R. microplus ticks that fed on horses with high parasitemia passed the parasite vertically into the eggs with low efficiency, and the subsequent generation (larvae, nymphs, and adults) failed to transmit B. equi parasites to naïve horses. The data demonstrated that intrastadial but not transovarial transmission is an efficient mode for B. equi transmission and that persistently infected horses are an important reservoir for transmission. Consequently, R. microplus male ticks and persistently infected horses should be targeted for disease control.
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Details
- Title
- Persistently infected horses are reservoirs for intrastadial tick-borne transmission of the apicomplexan parasite Babesia equi
- Creators
- Massaro W Ueti - Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-7040, USA. massaro@vetmed.wsu.eduGuy H PalmerGlen A ScolesLowell S KappmeyerDonald P Knowles
- Publication Details
- Infection and immunity, Vol.76(8), pp.3525-3529
- Academic Unit
- Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Department of; Paul G. Allen School for Global Animal Health
- Publisher
- United States
- Grant note
- T32 AI007025 / NIAID NIH HHS
- Identifiers
- 99900547594901842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article