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Equine Piroplasmids

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Book cover Parasitic Protozoa of Farm Animals and Pets

Abstract

Equine piroplasmosis (EP), caused by the tick-borne protozoan parasites Theileria equi or Babesia caballi, is an infectious disease that affects equids worldwide. The disease is of global economic importance due to morbidity, mortality, costs associated with treatment, diagnosis, and impact on the international movement of horses for commerce and competition. Infected horses remain lifelong carriers of T. equi or B. caballi, although horses appear able to occasionally eliminate B. caballi infection. Persistently infected equids are a continuous source for transmission of the protozoal pathogens by tick vectors or iatrogenic transfer. The presence of ticks capable of transmitting these pathogens on all continents increases the need for global surveillance to prevent EP dissemination. This chapter presents life cycle differences between T. equi and B. caballi, the world distribution of competent tick vectors, efficacy of drug treatment to eliminate persistent infection, acaricide treatments to lower tick burden, and improvement of diagnostic assays to prevent dissemination of protozoan parasite strains throughout the world.

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by USDA-ARS CRIS project number 2090-32000-039-00D.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Diseases Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pullman, WA, USA

    Massaro W. Ueti & Donald P. Knowles

  2. Program in Vector-borne Diseases, Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Massaro W. Ueti & Donald P. Knowles

  3. School for Global Animal Health, Washington State University, Pullman, WA, USA

    Massaro W. Ueti & Donald P. Knowles

Authors
  1. Massaro W. Ueti
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  2. Donald P. Knowles
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Correspondence to Massaro W. Ueti .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Research on Veterinary and Agronomic Sciences, National Institute of Agricultural Technology, Hurlingham, Argentina

    Monica Florin-Christensen

  2. National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Leonhard Schnittger

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Ueti, M.W., Knowles, D.P. (2018). Equine Piroplasmids. In: Florin-Christensen, M., Schnittger, L. (eds) Parasitic Protozoa of Farm Animals and Pets. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70132-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70132-5_11

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-70131-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-70132-5

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