oxytetracycline--anhydrous and Tick-Infestations

A 10-month-old ram with fever, inappetence and haemorrhagic diathesis had petechiae and ecchymoses at various body sites and was infested by ticks. Haematological examination revealed pancytopenia, while serum biochemistry indicated hepatic dysfunction. Blood smears were negative for Ehrlichia spp. and other haemoparasites. Paired sera revealed infection by Anaplasma phagocytophilum, but testing by polymerase chain reaction was negative. Treatment with oxytetracycline was effective. This is the first reported clinical case of ovine anaplasmosis in Greece caused by A. phagocytophilum.

Topics: Anaplasma phagocytophilum; Animals; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Ehrlichiosis; Hemorrhagic Disorders; Male; Oxytetracycline; Sheep; Sheep Diseases; Tick Infestations; Ticks; Treatment Outcome

In Uganda, control of vector-borne diseases is mainly in form of vector control, and chemotherapy. There have been reports that acaricides are being misused in the pastoralist systems in Uganda. This is because of the belief by scientists that intensive application of acaricide is uneconomical and unsustainable particularly in the indigenous cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the strategies, rationale and effectiveness of vector-borne disease control by pastoralists. To systematically carry out these investigations, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used, in both the collection and the analysis of data. Cattle keepers were found to control tick-borne diseases (TBDs) mainly through spraying, in contrast with the control of trypanosomosis for which the main method of control was by chemotherapy. The majority of herders applied acaricides weekly and used an acaricide of lower strength than recommended by the manufacturers. They used very little acaricide wash, and spraying was preferred to dipping. Furthermore, pastoralists either treated sick animals themselves or did nothing at all, rather than using veterinary personnel. Oxytetracycline (OTC) was the drug commonly used in the treatment of TBDs. Nevertheless, although pastoralists may not have been following recommended practices in their control of ticks and tick-borne diseases, they were neither wasteful nor uneconomical and their methods appeared to be effective. Trypanosomosis was not a problem either in Sembabule or Mbarara district. Those who used trypanocides were found to use more drugs than were necessary.

Topics: Animal Husbandry; Animals; Animals, Domestic; Disease Vectors; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Administration Routes; Insecticides; Oxytetracycline; Tick Control; Tick Infestations; Tick-Borne Diseases; Treatment Outcome; Trypanosomiasis; Uganda

One hundred and one cross European-Boran cattle (50 cows and 51 calves), on a farm in Nakuru District, Kenya, were immunised against theileriosis using Theileria parva lawrencei and Theileria parva parva stocks from another district of Kenya. The stabilates used were T.p.lawrencei (Mara III) used at 10(-1.7) dilution and T.p.parva (Kilae) used at 10(-1.0) dilution. The stabilates were combined and inoculated simultaneously with a short-acting formulation of oxytetracycline hydrochloride given intramuscularly at 10 mg kg-1 body weight and was repeated on Day 4 after inoculation of the stabilate. Most of the theileriosis challenge on the farm was thought to be derived directly from the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer). Nine percent of the cattle had significant indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) titres before the immunisation and 99% after immunisation. The immunised cattle were exposed to tick-borne disease challenge on the farm by withdrawal of acaricide cover. The immunised cattle were divided into five groups plus two susceptible control cows and two calves for each group. Cattle in four of the groups had acaricidal ear tags, each group having a different type, applied to both ears and the fifth group remained untagged. The animals remained without conventional acaricide application for 134 days. Ten out of 20 (50%) non-immunised control cattle became T.p.lawrencei reactors which only one out of 97 (1%) of the immunised cattle reacted. A frequent complication noted was mild infections due to unidentified Theileria sp. which required expert differentiation from T.parva infections. An additional group of ten steers whose tick load was removed by hand at weekly intervals was introduced 79 days after exposure; these had no tick control and four became T.p.lawrencei reactors. Of 12 calves born during the exposure period and without tick control, four became theilerial reactors and one died. The application of acaricidal tags however, reduced tick infestation levels considerably compared with untagged controls but did not prevent transmission of theileriosis with the possible exception of tags on Group 4. A number of transient low grade fevers were noted and attributed to Theileria sp., Ehrlichia bovis, Ehrlichia (Cytoecetes) ondiri and Borrelia theileri infections, none of which were fatal. One immunised animal died of acute dual infection of Babesia bigemina and Borrelia theileri after acaricide control by spraying was re-introduced but no Anaplasma infec

Topics: Animals; Antibodies, Protozoan; Cattle; Female; Immunization; Insecticides; Male; Oxytetracycline; Theileria parva; Theileriasis; Tick Control; Tick Infestations; Ticks

Thirty young crossbred steers were purchased from a tick-borne disease-free farm in South Africa, shown to be serologically negative to Babesia bigemina/bovis and Cowdria ruminantium, and moved to an experimental farm where babesiosis and heartwater were known to be endemic. The animals were allowed to graze as a herd on tick-infested areas of the farm for 90 days from the beginning of April but were separated into three groups of 10 for treatment. One group received a prophylactic regime of two injections of 20 mg/kg of a long-acting oxytetracycline on days 7 and 14 after introduction, one received a regime of three similar injections on days 7, 14 and 21 and the other group remained untreated prophylactically. The animals were observed early each morning in a crush, rectal temperatures being taken daily and blood smears when clinical signs of disease occurred. When clinical disease was confirmed in individual animals appropriate therapeutic treatment was implemented. In addition tick counts were made weekly. All untreated control animals required treatment for redwater between days 23 and 32 and eight of them then contracted heartwater of which five died despite therapy. Four animals from the group receiving two injections of oxytetracycline and one receiving three injections also contracted redwater but rather later. During the initial 35 day assessment period it was noticed that the majority of Boophilus ticks failed to engorge on the oxytetracycline-treated animals. In the second phase of the trial theileriosis (T. mutans-type) became evident in many animals and appeared to precipitate new or recrudescent clinical redwater and heartwater in several of them.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Topics: Animals; Babesiosis; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Delayed-Action Preparations; Disease Susceptibility; Heartwater Disease; Male; Oxytetracycline; Tick Infestations

Bos taurus calves free from tick-borne diseases were prophylactically treated with oxytetracycline hydrochloride and phenamidine isothionate 40% (w/v) injections and infested twice with adult Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks. Mono- and diphasic temperature rises were observed during primary and secondary exposures respectively with the peak occurring when the ticks were completing engorgement. However, the first rise in the secondary infestation occurred well before repletion and was associated with a hypersensitivity state. The feeding performance, viability and fecundity of female ticks were impaired during the secondary exposure.

Topics: Amidines; Animals; Benzamidines; Cattle; Cattle Diseases; Feeding Behavior; Female; Fever; Male; Oxytetracycline; Phenyl Ethers; Tick Infestations; Tick Toxicoses; Ticks

Topics: Animals; Apicomplexa; Blood; Cattle; Fluorescent Antibody Technique; Lymph Nodes; Male; Oxytetracycline; Theileriasis; Tick Infestations; Ticks