In vitro isolation of equine piroplasms derived from Cape Mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra) in South Africa

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Authors

Meyer, P.
Lopez-Rebollar, Laura M.

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Published jointly by the Agricultural Research Council, ARC-Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute and the Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria.

Abstract

Twenty blood samples of zebras ( Equus zebra zebra) from the Karoo National Park and the Bontebok National Park in South Africa, all seropositive for Theileria equi, were subjected to in vitro culture to identify carrier animals and to isolate the parasites. Sixteen animals had a detectable parasitaemia in Giemsa-stained blood smears examined before culture initiation, the remaining four animals were identified as T. equi carriers by in vitro culture. Cultures were initiated either in an oxygen-reduced gas mixture or in a 5% CO2-in-air atmosphere. Out of the 20 blood samples, 12 cultures of T. equi and two cultures of T. equi mixed with Babesia caballi were established. None of the four animals seropositive for B. caballi could be identified as carrier animals, whereas two seronegative samples became culture-positive for B. caballi

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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, Cape mountain zebra (Equus zebra zebra), Equine piroplasmosis, In vitro cultivation, Theileria equi

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Citation

Zweygarth, E, Lopez-Rebollar, LM & Meyer, P 2002, 'In vitro isolation of equine piroplasms derived from Cape Mountain zebra ( Equus zebra zebra) in South Africa’. Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, vol. 69, no. 3, pp. 197-200.