Song Kun-Ho, Sang Byung-Chan
Laboratory of Veterinary Internal Medicine, Chungnam National University, Daejeon 305-764, Republic of Korea.
Korean J Parasitol. 2003 Sep;41(3):141-5. doi: 10.3347/kjp.2003.41.3.141.
This study was performed to investigate the prevalence of theileriosis and to compare the prevalence of this disease in Korean native cattle reared under different environmental conditions, namely, in a grazing area and a non-grazing area by polymerase chain reaction. Three hundred and one Korean native cattle (276 cows and 25 bulls) that had not received prior treatment or been vaccinated to prevent theileriosis were examined by PCR for Theileria sergenti infection from 2001 to 2002. In our study, the parasitemia range in T. sergenti-positive cattle by microscopy were from 0.1 to 3% (mean 0.8%). In terms of mean prevalence, 204 of the 301 Korean native cattle (67.8%) were positive reaction by PCR. Our results also revealed that the infection rate among cows (70.3%) was significantly higher than that among bulls (40.0%) (p < 0.01). T. sergenti infection among the over 3 year-old-group (75%) had a significant higher prevalence than that among the less than 3 year-old-group (61.8%) (p < 0.05). Our data also showed that grazing areas (76.1%) had the significant higher prevalence than non-grazing areas (51%) (p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study demonstrates that the prevalence of T. sergenti infection is high and that its prevalence in grazing cattle is higher than that in non-grazing cattle. Therefore, life-long treatment and the development of an optimal vaccine are needed to reduce the numbers of bovine theileriosis in both grazing and non-grazing areas.
本研究旨在通过聚合酶链反应调查泰勒虫病的流行情况，并比较在不同环境条件下饲养的韩国本土牛（即放牧区和非放牧区）中该病的流行情况。2001年至2002年，对301头未接受过预防泰勒虫病治疗或疫苗接种的韩国本土牛（276头母牛和25头公牛）进行了PCR检测，以检测瑟氏泰勒虫感染情况。在我们的研究中，通过显微镜检查，瑟氏泰勒虫阳性牛的寄生虫血症范围为0.1%至3%（平均0.8%）。就平均流行率而言，301头韩国本土牛中有204头（67.8%）PCR呈阳性反应。我们的结果还显示，母牛的感染率（70.3%）显著高于公牛（40.0%）（p<0.01）。3岁以上组的瑟氏泰勒虫感染率（75%）显著高于3岁以下组（61.8%）（p<0.05）。我们的数据还表明，放牧区（76.1%）的流行率显著高于非放牧区（51%）（p<0.001）。总之，本研究表明瑟氏泰勒虫感染的流行率很高，且放牧牛中的流行率高于非放牧牛。因此，需要进行终身治疗并研发最佳疫苗，以减少放牧区和非放牧区牛泰勒虫病的数量。
