To develop a vaccine against cryptosporidiosis in animals, we constructed recombinant pseudorabies virus (PrV), a member of the Herpesviridae Alphaherpesvirus subfamily, expressing an immunodominant surface protein p23 of Cryptosporidium parvum sporozoites. Because of the wide host range of PrV, it has the possibility as the vector to delivery the foreign genes to several species of animals containing experiment animal. In the recombinant constructed in this study, the p23 gene under the control of CAG promoter was integrated into the thymidine kinase (TK) gene of PRV. Antibody against p23 recognized p23 expressed in CPK cells infected with the recombinant, as the approximate 23 kDa specific band in Western blotting analysis. This study showed the possibility of a PrV recombinant as a vaccine against cryptosporidiosis in animals.

View full abstract

Tetratrichomonas didelphidis (Hegner and Ratcliffe 1927) Andersen and Reilly 1965 is a flagellate protozoan from the intestine, cecum and colon of Didelphis marsupialis Linnaeus, 1758. The prevalence of T. didelphidis in opossums D. albiventris was studied in the Botanical Garden, Porto Alegre City in the southernmost Brazilian State, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. T. didelphidi was found in seven of eight cultures of swabbed rectums, representing a prevalence of 87.5% in D. albiventris. In the present investigation it was observed that the T. didelphidis found in the intestine content of D. albiventris had the same morphological characteristics as those previously described by other authors in the D. marsupialis, being the same protozoan species in both host species.

View full abstract

Clinical hepatic coccidiosis in New Zealand white rabbits (n=24) of either sex (aged 1-2 month) with clinical signs, pathology an therapy is presented. The infected rabbits showed anorexia, reluctance to move and death within 3-4 days. Liver showed irregular whitish nodules scattered on its surface and in deeper parenchyma. Characteristic histopathological changes in liver with different developmental stages of Eimeria stiedae in the epithelial cells of bile ducts have been recorded. Treatment of infected rabbits with 2.5% toltrazuril (Baycox) at 25 ppm in water for 2 days was highly effective. The oocysts is appeared in the faeces on day 6 after treatment. No mortality was seen in treated rabbits while all the infected untreated rabbits died with in a period of 7 days.

View full abstract

Twenty eight sheep and 28 goats were treated with isometamidium chloride (Samorin®, hone Merieux, Lyon, France) at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight (bw) by intramuscular injection. All the animals were grazed in a tsetse-infested area. They were monitored for anaemia, body weight, anti-trypanosome antibodies and serum isometamidium concentration using the isometamidium enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for more than 80 days after treatment. Serum isometamidium levels were higher in goats than in sheep throughout the experimental period. Isometamidium was still detectable in sheep and goats for up to 77 and 98 days, respectively, alter treatment (detection limit=0.1 ng/ml). The isometamidium elimination half-lives in sheep and goats were approximately 13.8 and 17.4 days, respectively. No trypanosomes were detected in either the isometamidium-treated or untreated control animals. The present study demonstrated that the isometamidium-ELISA, originally developed for use in cattle, may be equally useful in monitoring the drug in sheep and goats. The elimination half-lives and serum isometamidium levels were markedly higher in goats than in sheep. This could have important implications for chemoprophylaxis in small ruminants under field conditions.

View full abstract