Department of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Infect Genet Evol. 2011 Oct;11(7):1564-76. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2011.08.006. Epub 2011 Aug 30.
Until recently, besnoitiosis has been a neglected disease of domestic animals. Now, a geographic expansion of the causing protozoan parasite Besnoitia besnoiti in livestock has been recognized and the disease in cattle is considered emerging in Europe. Bovine besnoitiosis leads to significant economic losses by a decline in milk production, sterility, transient or permanent infertility of bulls, skin lesions and increase of mortality in affected cattle population. Phylogenetically, the Besnoitia genus is closest related to the well studied and medically important protozoans, Toxoplasma gondii and Neospora caninum. In contrast, discriminative molecular markers to type and subtype large mammalian Besnoitia species (B. besnoiti, B. caprae, B. tarandi, B. bennetti) on a relevant level of species and strains are lacking. Similarly, these cyst-forming parasites may use two hosts to fulfill their life cycle, but this has not been proven for all large mammalian Besnoitia species yet. Most important though, the final hosts and transmission routes of these Besnoitia species remain mysterious. Here, we review aspects of parasite's pathology, speciation, phylogeny, epidemiology and transmission with a special focus on recent molecular studies of all to date known Besnoitia species. Using an integrated approach, we have tried to highlight some promising directions for future research.
直到最近，贝氏巴贝斯虫病一直是家畜的一种被忽视的疾病。现在，已认识到引起原虫寄生虫贝氏巴贝斯虫的地理范围在牲畜中扩大，并且该疾病在欧洲被认为是新出现的。牛贝氏巴贝斯虫病通过降低牛奶产量、公牛不育、暂时性或永久性不育、皮肤损伤和受感染牛群死亡率的增加，导致重大的经济损失。从系统发生学上讲，Besnoitia 属与研究得很好且具有重要医学意义的原虫，刚地弓形虫和新孢子虫最密切相关。相比之下，缺乏用于在相关物种和菌株水平上对大型哺乳动物 Besnoitia 种（B. besnoiti、B. caprae、B. tarandi、B. bennetti）进行分型和亚型区分的有区别的分子标记。同样，这些形成囊肿的寄生虫可能使用两个宿主来完成其生命周期，但尚未证明所有大型哺乳动物 Besnoitia 种都如此。不过，最重要的是，这些 Besnoitia 种的终末宿主和传播途径仍然是个谜。在这里，我们综述了寄生虫病理学、物种形成、系统发生、流行病学和传播的各个方面，特别关注了迄今为止所有已知 Besnoitia 种的最新分子研究。我们采用综合方法，试图突出未来研究的一些有前途的方向。
