ABSTRACT
Tests on 257 blood samples from 21 herds of horses in Formosa Province of Argentina, using the technique of centrifuging microhaematocrit capillary tubes, revealed Trypanosoma evansi in 90 of 137 animals in eight herds. Application of the direct agglutination test to serum samples from the same animals revealed antibodies to T. evansi in 107 horses. Antibody was also detected in nine horses from two herds where the parasite was not detected. Outbreaks of 'mal de caderas' occurred in the humid (eastern) and sub-humid (central) zones of Formosa. More than 95% of the equine population of the province is found in these zones (57,000 horses). In six strains of T. evansi, maintained by passage in mice, between 3% and 20% of parasites possessed a kinetoplast.
Subject(s)
Disease Outbreaks/veterinary , Horse Diseases/epidemiology , Trypanosomiasis/veterinary , Agglutination Tests/veterinary , Animals , Antibodies, Protozoan/blood , Argentina/epidemiology , Centrifugation/veterinary , Horses , Parasitemia/parasitology , Parasitemia/veterinary , Trypanosoma/immunology , Trypanosoma/isolation & purification , Trypanosomiasis/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Se comunica el hallazgo de Dracunculus sp. en un canino proveniente de la localidade de Fontana, Departamento Patino, provincia de Formosa, Argentina. El hallazgo constituye el cuarto caso de Dracunculosis registrado en animales en una misma area geografica de Formosa.
Subject(s)
Animals , Male , Dogs , Dracunculiasis/epidemiology , Dracunculus Nematode/classification , Nematode Infections/parasitology , Argentina , Dracunculiasis/diagnosisABSTRACT
It is reported Dracunculus sp. in a dog from Fontana city, department of Patiño, in the Formosa Province, Argentina. This is the fourth report of Dracunculosis occurred in animals all from the same geographic area of Formosa.
Subject(s)
Dog Diseases/parasitology , Dracunculiasis/veterinary , Dracunculus Nematode/physiology , Animals , Argentina , Dogs , Dracunculiasis/parasitology , Dracunculus Nematode/isolation & purification , MaleABSTRACT
The usefulness of the direct agglutination test (DA) to diagnose Mal de Caderas disease was evaluated. Forty four sera samples from two lots of horses with natural T. evansi infection (Lot 1 and Lot 2) were used. Thirteen (81.2%) of sixteen horses in which parasites were isolated gave positive agglutination titres (> or = 1:512) in the DA test. Treatment of these positive sera with 2-mercaptoethanol drops three to eight dilutions the agglutination titres in twelve samples (92%), showing the IgM nature of these antibodies. The DA test was also positive in seventeen of twenty eight horses in which parasites could not be detected. Five T. evansi infected horses, Lot three, which had high antibodies levels in the DA test, were treated with Naganol (Bayer-Germany). In four animals these antibodies were mainly IgM. In agreement with negative control for parasites, two months after treatment, IgM could not be detected while IgG antibodies remained detectable in low titres 12 months in three of the five horses. Fifty control horses sera from a T. evansi free area were AD negative. The DA and DA+2-ME are recommended as a routine method to diagnose Mal de Caderas disease in combination with parasitological diagnostic methods.