ABSTRACT
Several species of piroplasms of livestock are present in Tunisia; some of them are of high veterinary importance. This paper reviews the species already reported in Tunisia on the basis of clinical observations, parasitological routine diagnostic and serological surveys, as well as those considered as potentially present according to epidemiological argumentations. The genus Theileria includes four species reported in Tunisia: T. annulata, T. buffeli, T. ovis, and T. equi. The ovine malignant theileriosis agent, T. lestoquardi, appears to be absent in Tunisia. Five species belonging to the genus Babesia were reported in the country, namely B. bovis, B. bigemina, B. divergens, B. caballi, and B. ovis. Furthermore, two more species, B. major and B. motasi, are potentially present in zones where their vectors of the genus Haemaphysalis occur
ABSTRACT
The Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Test [IFAT] remains so far the most commonly used test for sero-epidemiological investigations on tropical theileriosis [infection of cattle with Theileria annulata]. The present studies evaluated the ability of both IFAT with schizont antigen [schizont IFAT] and blood smears to detect infected animals just after the theileriosis season. This evaluation was performed on a group of 89 calves of known infection status for T. annulata at first disease season, from farms with endemic stability for tropical theileriosis. An additional retrospective group of 84 cattle free of infection was also used for the estimation of the specificity of the schizont IFAT. The sensitivity and the specificity of schizont IFAT were 88.9% [64/72] and 97% [98/101], respectively. Blood smears showed a lower sensitivity of 63.9% [46/72]. The agreement between the two detection techniques and the infection status of the animals, evaluated by the Kappa coefficient, was 0.85 and 0.64 for IFAT and blood smears, respectively