Control of equine piroplasmosis in Brazil

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Authors

Kerber, C.E.
Ferreira, F.
Pereira, M.C.

Journal Title

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Published by the Agricultural Research Council, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute

Abstract

The importance of equine piroplasmosis control in endemic countries has increased in recent years and plays an important role to maintain the international market open to the horse industry. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the occurrence of equine piroplasmosis (Babesia equi or Theileria equi and Babesia caballi) in Brazil - a country where the disease occurs endemically - in different climatic conditions, and to evaluate the results of a strategy for tick control in order to decrease infection rates. Blood samples were taken from 720 horses on 28 farms from different regions and subjected for complement fixation testing. The strategy was based on the control of the tick population by spraying the horses with acaricides, treating positive horses and preventing cattle and horses from grazing together. A significant association was found in the prevalence of antibody titres in tropical and subtropical areas. A significantly lower prevalence rate occurred on those farms where measures to control tick population were established. Farms in endemic countries may significantly reduce the prevalence of equine piroplasmosis by establishing measures to control the tick population and treating chronic carrier horses. Additional measures for controlling ticks in tropical areas are also discussed.

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The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.

Keywords

Veterinary medicine, Babesia caballi, Babesia equi, Boophilus microplus, Equine piroplasmosis, Ticks, Theileria equi

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Citation

Kerber, CE, Ferreira, F & Pereira, MC 1999, 'Control of equine piroplasmosis in Brazil’. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, vol. 66, no. 2, pp. 123-127.