[Evaluation of the results of intradermal tests in spontaneous cysticercosis in cattle]. / Hodnoceni výsledku intradermálních testu pri spontánní cysticerkóze skotu.

The diagnostic value of intradermal tests was verified on 126 bulls (out of this number 32 autopsically positive) subject to intravital diagnostics of bovine cysticercosis. As allergen were used homologous antigens from adult larvae of Taenia saginata and heterologous antigens from larvae of Taenia crassiceps, as well as hydatid fluid from Echinococcus granulosis. With the antigen T. saginata the sensitivity reached 53.1% and specificity 90.4%, with the antigen T. crassiceps 53.1% and 80.9% and with the antigen E. granulosus 16.7% and 89.5%.

[Counterimmunoelectrophoresis in the serologic diagnosis of cysticercosis in cattle]. / Protismerná imunoelektroforéza pri sérologické diagnostice cysticerkózy skotu.

Over the years 1983 to 1984 two-hundred and sixty-five bulls were examined during mass occurrence of bovine cysticercosis in one farm; out of this number 67 animals (25.3%) were confirmed autopsically as infected with cysticercosis. Counterimmunoelectrophoresis was used to examine the serum of slaughtered animals by help of two antigens--Taenia saginata and Taenia crassiceps. With T. saginata the sensitivity amounted to 44.8% and the specificity to 86.4%, with T. crassiceps to 28.3% and to 89.9%.

[The first occurrence of demodicosis in cattle in Czechoslovakia]. / První nálezy demodikózy skotu v Ceskoslovensku.

Demodectic lesions were found in 37 per cent out of the total number of seventy-five cows examined by palpation in a large cow-house in South Bohemia, Czechoslovakia. These lesions were intradermal nodules, mostly 2 to 6 mm in diameter, located in the corium in the anterior parts of the body. The animals had 1 to 75 lesions (on the average 11.6). Their age was three to seven years. Their overall health condition was good and their behaviour was not affected. Microscopic examination revealed large numbers of Demodex bovis Stiles, 1892, causative agent of demodicosis, in the contents of nodules in five out of six examined animals. Histopathological changes in two nodules were characterized by inflammatory granulomatous structures containing large numbers of mites, epithelioid cells with rich, pale cytoplasm, giant cells of the foreign body type, and inflammatory infiltrates consisting mostly of lymphocytes. Fibroproduction in the contents of granulomas and along their periphery was markedly low.

[Economic losses due to cysticercosis in cattle]. / Ekonomické ztráty zpüsobené cysticerkózou skotu.

Based on the data collected by Large Fattening Houses, economic consequences of cysticercosis in cattle reared on the farm Ceské Velenice (district Jindrichuv Hradec) were evaluated. On this farm, a mass occurrence of cysticercosis was observed throughout the period of 1975 to 1977, a partial occurrence in 1978, as after-effect from the previous period. The number of infected bulls was calculated from the number of animals in which cysticercosis was detected in the slaughter-houses. The highest percentage of bulls suffering from cysticercosis at the time of purchase was found in 1976-69.1%; beginning the April of 1976, the occurrence amounted almost to 100%; the decrease started in the April of 1977. Cysticercosis affected the average realization price which in 1976 was as low as 8.56 Kcs (Czechoslovak crowns) per one kg of live weight. In that year, financial losses amounted up to 6.93 Kcs per 1 kg of live weight in all sold animals. The total direct financial losses due to cysticercosis in the bulls on this farm equalled 2,567,799 Kcs, till the year 1978 when this parasitosis was eradicated.

[Epizootiology of bovine cysticercosis in the Jindrichuv Hradec District]. / Epizootologie cysticerkózy skotu v okrese Jindrichuv Hradec.

The results of the study of the epidemiology and epizootology of Taenia saginata in the Jindrichuv Hradec district indicate that this tapeworm species has adapted successfully to anthropogenic conditions. Mass occurrence of bovine cysticercosis, coming from a limited source, was observed in the Jindrichuv Hradec district. Our of the 907 employees of one farm, T. saginata was found in two workers engaged in animal production and in one person working in crop production. Their recovery resulted in the eradication of cysticercosis in the cattle kept on that farm; before eradication the disease was responsible for losses of several hundreds of thousands of crowns.

Intradermal test in the diagnosis of bovine cysticercosis (Cysticercus bovis).

The skin test was performed in cattle infected with C. bovis. The examination were carried out on naturally (23 head) and artificially infected animals (20 head) at different times after infection. Antigens prepared from T. saginata (B1, N0.1, C, Calk) and antigens extracted from activated oncospheres of T. saginata (OI and OII) were inoculated intradermally. The most active were the antigens B1, N0.1, and C prepared from T. saginata. In the majority of infected animals the antigens produced the immediate type of reaction developing the maximum intensity during 2 h post injection. It is worth mentioning that Arthus-type responses have often been observed. Uninfected animals when tested with the same antigens developed mild reaction, not exceeding 4 mm skin thickness. The second testing of the same animals after one or five months resulted in a more intensive reaction slightly resembling that one observed in infected animals. There is no correlation between titre of passive haemagglutination test and the skin test reaction in naturally infected animals. Neither the number of cysticerci with which the animal is infected has an influence on the degree of the skin edema.

Development of oncospheres of Taenia saginata after a concomitant infection by oral and subcutaneous routes.

Two experimental bulls (weight 200 kg each) were infected with activated oncospheres of Taenia saginata. The infective dose (160,000 oncospheres) was administered twice to each animal, once by oral, once by subcutaneous routes. At 6 hr p.i., a boil appeared at the site of puncture which attained a diameter of 5.5 cm and 6.2 cm respectively within 3 days, and a thickness of 1.8 cm and 2.2 cm. The postmortem disclosed an extremely weak total infestation of the muscles (approximately 30 cysticeri). The inflammatory tissue of subcutaneous foci contained eggs with an embryophore. Part of the eggs were enclosed in multinucleate giant cells. The tissue reaction differed in dependence on the viability of the oncosphere in the egg. Either giant cells were produced as in the presence of a foreign body, or there was a local accumulation of eosinophiles which after their destruction, were replaced by a crystalline conglomerate containing an egg in its centre. In addition, we found young stages of cysticerci affected by dystrophy. Remarkable eosinophile substances observed on the surface both of some eggs and of developing cysticerci (an analogy of the Splendone-Hoepli phenomenon) apparently indicated a binding of antibodies to the antigenic structure.