ABSTRACT
Throughout most of the twentieth century, tick infestations on cattle have been controlled with chemical acaricides, typically administered by dipping or spraying. This approach can cause environmental and residue problems and has created a high incidence of acaricide resistance within tick populations in the field. Recently we developed a vaccine against Boophilus microplus employing a recombinant Bm86 antigen preparation (Gavac), (Heber Biotec S.A., Havana, Cuba) which has been shown to induce a protective response in vaccinated animals. Here we show for the first time under field conditions a near 100% control of B. microplus populations resistant to pyrethroids and organophosphates, by an integrated system employing vaccination with Gavac and amidine treatments. This method effectively controls tick infestations while reducing the number of chemical acaricide treatments and consequently the rise of B. microplus populations resistant to chemical acaricides.
Subject(s)
Amidines , Cattle Diseases/prevention & control , Membrane Glycoproteins/immunology , Recombinant Proteins , Tick Control/methods , Tick Infestations/veterinary , Ticks , Vaccines/immunology , Animals , Cattle , Cattle Diseases/immunology , Cattle Diseases/parasitology , Insecticide Resistance , Insecticides , Mexico , Organophosphorus Compounds , Pyrethrins , Tick Infestations/immunology , Tick Infestations/parasitology , Tick Infestations/prevention & control , VaccinationABSTRACT
The occurrence of Boophilus microplus infections accompanied by bovine babesiosis was confirmed for 2 locations in northern Mexico. The confirmation at one location was made by transferring whole blood to a splenectomised calf which subsequently developed an acute Babesia bovis infection. Examination of thin blood smears from a suspect animal at the second location revealed B. bovis-infected erthrocytes. A serological survey of other herd members at both locations showed antibody activity against both Babesia and Anaplasma spp.
