Du Plessis J L, De Waal D T, Stoltsz W H
Protozoology Division, Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute, South Africa.
Onderstepoort J Vet Res. 1994 Dec;61(4):295-301.
In an almost 50% response to a survey questionnaire, farmers in the heartwater-endemic regions of South Africa indicated that they were experiencing losses of 1.3, 0.3 and 0.2% in cattle due to heartwater, redwater and anaplasmosis, respectively. In small stock, the heartwater mortality was 3.8%. Only 35% of cattle farmers and 15% of farmers keeping sheep and goats, vaccinate their animals against heartwater. It would seem that the present vaccine does not control heartwater adequately and, with 9% of farmers claiming poor protection after immunization, it would be difficult to recommend wider use of the heartwater vaccine. Likewise, vaccination against redwater and anaplasmosis on 11.8 and 14.2% of farms, respectively, appears to have had no beneficial effect on the mortality rates of these diseases. Many farmers still believe that very few or no ticks should be seen on cattle. In fact, it would appear that a considerable proportion of farmers find so few ticks on their cattle, that the frequency of acaricidal treatment is in many cases too high. Although there is no correlation between the incidence of heartwater and the intensity of tick control, there is also no serological evidence to support the possibility of an endemically unstable condition. The concept that endemic stability as a means to control heartwater in cattle can be achieved by allowing more ticks on animals, has not yet been established. The overall impression is that farmers do not regard heartwater in cattle as such a serious problem as it is generally believed to be.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
在对调查问卷近50%的回复中，南非心水病流行地区的农民表示，他们的牛因心水病、红水病和无形体病分别遭受了1.3%、0.3%和0.2%的损失。在小牲畜中，心水病死亡率为3.8%。只有35%的养牛农民和15%的养羊和山羊农民为其动物接种心水病疫苗。目前的疫苗似乎无法充分控制心水病，9%的农民声称免疫后保护效果不佳，因此很难建议更广泛地使用心水病疫苗。同样，分别在11.8%和14.2%的农场进行的红水病和无形体病疫苗接种，似乎对这些疾病的死亡率没有产生有益影响。许多农民仍然认为牛身上应该很少或没有蜱虫。事实上，相当一部分农民发现他们的牛身上蜱虫很少，以至于在许多情况下杀蜱处理的频率过高。虽然心水病的发病率与蜱虫控制强度之间没有关联，但也没有血清学证据支持地方病不稳定状态的可能性。通过允许动物身上有更多蜱虫来实现地方病稳定以控制牛心水病的概念尚未确立。总体印象是，农民并不像人们普遍认为的那样，将牛的心水病视为一个严重问题。（摘要截选至250字）
