The infection and treatment method of vaccination against heartwater

The history of vaccination techniques against heartwater and the development of the infection and treatment method are reviewed briefly. Present techniques and their shortcomings are defined and possible areas of improvement discussed.     

A preliminary investigation into the efficacy of intraperitoneal vaccination of sheep and goat kids against heartwater

The intraperitoneal route was explored both as an alternative to the intravenous route for the vaccination of sheep and goat kids against heartwater and for the administration of an antibiotic to animals suffering from the disease. Only 8 (57%) of the 14 adult sheep, and none of the 7 goat kids, were found to be immune after intraperitoneal vaccination with infective blood. However, this route was found to be very suitable and effective for the administration of tetracyclines to reacting animals.     

Protection of goats against Caribbean and African heartwater isolates by the Ball 3 heartwater vaccine

Summary Two groups of castrated male adult goats (three goats/group) were infected intravenously with the Ball 3 vaccine strain ofCowdria ruminantium and treated with long-acting oxytetracycline at the onset of clinical disease 10 days later. Five weeks post-vaccination one group was challenged with a Caribbean isolate (Gardel) and the other group with a West African isolate (Mali) ofC. ruminantium. Non-vaccinated controls infected with either the Gardel or Mali isolate died. All of the vaccinated animals challenged with the Gardel strain reacted and survived. The three vaccinated animals challenged with the Mali isolate also reacted and two died of heartwater.

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Proteccion De Cabras Con La Vacuna Ball 3 Contra Las Cepas Caribeña Y Africana Causantes De Hidropericardio

Resumen Se infectaron tres grupos de machos cabríos castrados vía intravenosa (tres cabras/grupo), con la vacuna Ball 3 deCowdria ruminantium. Los animales se trataron posteriormente con tetraciclina LA, diez días después al comienzo de la enfermedad clínica. Cinco semanas después de la vacunación, un grupo se descargó con la cepa Caribeña (Gardel) y el otro grupo, con la cepa Africana Occidental (Malí) deC. ruminantium. Los controles no vacunados, infectados con las cepas Gardel y Malí, murieron. Todos los animales vacunados que recibieron la descarga con la cepa-Gardel, sobrevivieron. Los tres animales que recibieron la descarga con la cepa Malí reaccionaron también, muriendo dos de ellos.

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Protection Apportee Aux Chevres Vis-A-Vis Des Souches antillaises Et Africaines De Heartwater Par Le Vaccin Heartwater Ball 3

Résumé Deux groupes de chèvres adultes (mâles castrés, 3 animaux par groupe) ont été infectés par voie intraveineuse avec la souche vaccinale Ball 3 deCowdria ruminantium, et traités avec une oxytetracycline à longue action lors de l'application des signes cliniques dix jours plus tard. Cinq semaines après la vaccination, un groupe a été éprouvé avec une souche antillaise (Gardel) et l'autre groupe avec une souche ouest-africaine (Mali) deC. ruminantium. Les animaux contrôlés, non vaccinés, infectés soit par la souche Gardel, soit par la souche Mali, sont morts. Les animaux vaccinés, éprouvés avec la souche Gardel ont réagi mais ont survécu. Les trois animaux éprouvés avec la souche Mali ont aussi réagi et deux sont morts de heartwater.

     

The pathogenesis of heartwater

Hypotheses on the pathogenesis of heartwater, which have been published so far, are briefly reviewed. Attempts were made at counteracting the effects of vaso-active substances released by mast cells by treating mice infected with Cowdria ruminantium with antagonists to histamin and serotonin on one hand, and with mast cell stabilizers on the other, but were not successful. Preliminary findings suggest that a hypersensitive type of reaction, triggered by the release of pharmacologically active substances, may possibly be basic to the pathogenesis of heartwater. Complement, and the products of arachidonic acid metabolism, possibly play a role in the release of the vaso-active substances.     

The treatment of heartwater

This paper reviews the available literature on the treatment of heartwater and draws comparisons with results obtained from recent work on experimentally-induced heartwater in sheep, calves and mice.     

The production of heartwater vaccine

The events leading to the production of an effective vaccine against heartwater are summarized. The production techniques used at Onderstepoort to produce and control the quality of the infected blood and nymph suspension vaccines, and covering their respective advantages and disadvantages, are compared. The many problems of these vaccines and how they may be overcome are discussed.     

The natural control of heartwater vectors

Socio-economic factors and environmental considerations have increasingly encouraged the search for methods of tick control other than acaricidal treatment. Biological control management regimes have, so far, not proved to be sound replacements for acaricides. The major natural control methods employed successfully at present are host resistance and pasture management. The former has been extensively studied and utilized in a one-host-tick situation, and its potential specificity for the Amblyomma species is discussed. Pasture management in the form of tick-resistant plants and habitat modification affecting vector ecology and viability is discussed, as is host availability. Parasites and predators affecting tick populations are gleaned over with the accent on predacious birds (Buphagus species) which may play a limited role in integrated control programmes. Reference is made to the possibilities of genetic manipulation, problems accompanying the implementation of sterile male techniques, and hybrid sterility. In conclusion, a plea is made to ensure a thorough understanding of target vector ecology before any control measures are employed. This should be preferably from an integrated point of view rather than from a standpoint of unilateral reliance.     

The non-specific resistance of cattle to heartwater

A distinction is drawn between the non-specific resistance to heartwater of very young calves and that of cattle older than a year. The suckling-calf resistance is at its greatest during the first few weeks after birth and then gradually declines during the next 6-8 months. Aspects of its possible mechanism and significance are discussed. The role played by conglutinin in the natural resistance of older cattle to heartwater and in the epidemiology of the disease in discussed.     

The reservoir status of goats recovered from heartwater

Experiments were conducted with Creole goats and Amblyomma variegatum ticks in Guadeloupe to investigate whether it is possible to transmit Cowdria ruminantium to susceptible hosts with nymphs fed in the larval stage on recovered goats. Of 88 batches of larvae fed after the return of the goats' temperature to normal, or after challenge or immunosuppression, only the 9 batches of larvae fed during the febrile reaction, 2 batches applied 2 and 3 days respectively after recovery, and a single batch applied 5 days after challenge, became infective. On average, blood appears to be infective for A. variegatum larvae for only an 8-day period associated with the temperature reaction following a primary infection. Recovered goats are not reservoirs of Cowdria, even if--with one exception in our experiment--they are reinfected after recovery.     

Protection of cattle against heartwater in Botswana: comparative efficacy of different methods against natural and blood-derived challenges

Five groups of Tswana-cross castrated male cattle between 20 and 30 months of age (a total of 158 animals) were transported from a ranch in a heartwater-free area of south Botswana to a feedlot near Gaborone in the east of Botswana where heartwater is endemic. On arrival, one group was vaccinated intravenously with the Onderstepoort sheep blood heartwater vaccine, one group was vaccinated intravenously with the new Onderstepoort tick-derived heartwater vaccine and a third group was vaccinated subcutaneously with this tick-derived vaccine. Vaccine reactions were blocked with long acting oxytetracycline on the first day of fever. A fourth group had a series of injections of long acting oxytetracycline on days 0, 7, 14 and 21 after arrival, and a fifth served as untreated controls. The animals remained at the feedlot for 65 days during which time they faced a low level of challenge by Amblyomma hebraeum ticks. None contracted heartwater and so they were then challenged, together with a further group of control cattle, with a dose of the sheep blood vaccine. Some animals in all groups had severe heartwater reactions and died despite therapy, but 76.7 per cent, 64.5 per cent and 74.3 per cent of the cattle in the blood vaccine, intravenous tick vaccine and long acting oxytetracycline groups respectively were resistant to challenge, compared with 48.3 per cent of the subcutaneous tick vaccine group and 36.4 per cent of the controls. It was concluded that intravenous vaccination of susceptible adult cattle with either the blood or the tick-derived vaccine needs careful monitoring in the month after vaccination and does not necessarily result in immune animals.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

The historical background and global importance of heartwater

The first written record of what probably could have been heartwater originates from South Africa and dates back to 1838. Since then, the disease was described from almost all the African countries south of the Sahara as well as from Madagascar, S?o Tome, Reunion, Mauritius and a number of islands in the Caribbean. Most research on the disease, at least until recently, was conducted in South Africa. Progress in research was slow but a few outstanding findings are mentioned in this paper. Despite inadequate information on its actual economic impact on livestock production, it is generally accepted that heartwater is either the most or second most important tick-borne disease in Africa. Depending on the area, heartwater ranks either second or third amongst diseases such as East Coast fever, tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis, rinderpest and perhaps also schistosomiasis. Heartwater is a major obstacle with regard to the introduction of highly producing animals intended for the upgrading of local breeds. Furthermore, it remains a major threat to areas such as the American mainland, where potential vectors are present but where the disease does not occur.     

Natural transmission of heartwater

Heartwater has been transmitted experimentally by 12 Amblyomma species. Their importance depends on the extent of their distribution, adaptation to domestic stock and their efficacy as vectors. Except for one report of transovarial transmission, transmission is transstadial. Ticks may obtain the infection while feeding on reacting animals, subclinically infected hosts or perhaps on immune animals after reinfection. There is a marked increase in the infectivity of infected ticks during feeding but this decreases before and during moulting. The demonstration of Cowdria ruminantium in salivary glands of ticks suggests that transmission takes place via the saliva and that regurgitation from the gut may not be as important as previously thought. Transmission takes place on the 2nd day from the time infected nymphae were placed on the animals and on the 4th-day in the case of adult ticks.     

鸡马立克氏病胚胎免疫的研究

用MD京CV1988／Rispens冷冻疫苗对孵化至18日龄的鸡胚进行免疫接种，试验结果表明：胚胎免疫不影响孵化率，对鸡的生长发育也无影响，与1日龄免疫的雏鸡比较，可明显提高对MD强毒攻击的抵抗力。     

The development of immunity after vaccination of cattle against trichophytosis

Trials were conducted with 262 one-month-old calves. Good immunity was found to have developed within the period of 21 to 28 days after the administration of the Czechoslovak live vaccine against bovine trichophytosis. After epicutaneous inoculation of a highly virulent culture of Trichophyton verrucosum, performed 28 and 35 days after re-vaccination, no clinical form of trichophytosis was observed to rise in the calves. The same doses of challenge inoculum induced profound trichophytic changes. In the groups of calves artificially infected on the day of re-vaccination and seven days after re-vaccination, the proportions of experimental animals that fell ill were 88.2% and 44.4%, respectively; in the majority of cases, the course of the disease was not so serious as in the controls. Calves challenged 11 to 21 days after the second administration of the vaccines were mostly resistant to experimental infection: slight changes occurred in 15.4 to 7.0% of the tested animals.     

The immunization of calves against heartwater: subsequent immunity both in the absence and presence of natural tick challenge

Cattle, vaccinated as calves with Cowdria ruminantium-infected tick stabilate, were challenged 6, 12 and 24 months later. In the absence of tick challenge, vaccination of calves induced a partial immunity against subsequent challenge at 12 and 24 months. In animals exposed to ticks, the resistance was no better than that of control, unvaccinated cattle. When they were challenged at 6 months of age there was no difference between vaccinated and unvaccinated calves, either in the absence or presence of tick challenge, and all the animals manifested a high degree of natural resistance. This study therefore suggests that the value of vaccinating Afrikander-cross calves in heartwater endemic areas should be further investigated. The indirect fluorescent antibody (IFA) test proved to be a valuable means of monitoring the serological response of vaccinated animals and detecting the sero-conversion of animals exposed to tick infection. On one hand, there was good correlation between the febrile reaction and the results of the IFA test on the sera of vaccinated and control cattle challenged with the heartwater agent, in that all sero-positive animals were resistant to challenge. On the other hand, though, a considerable percentage of the animals that were serologically negative were also resistant to challenge.     

The control of heartwater by means of tick control

Two main methods are currently being used by farmers in the heartwater regions to control this disease in cattle and other stock, namely strategic control of ticks and total control of ticks. Some farmers make successful use of the latter method, particularly in areas which are marginal for the disease. Total tick control requires top managerial skills, which includes continual expert supervision, a relatively rare asset. The majority of farmers, often unintentionally, apply strategic control of ticks to control heartwater, either without or with vaccination against the disease. In this case the objective of tick control is to minimize "tick worry" without interfering too drastically with natural transmission of the disease. This method would make provision for natural immunization of young animals (a more uncertain method than vaccination) and the maintenance of immunity. In practice these methods appear to diminish deaths from heartwater appreciably, but do not protect all animals from the disease. Furthermore, they appear to be more effective in cattle than other stock. Although strategic control has an evolutionary background and considerable merit under African conditions, it is being applied in an empirical way because of paucity of information on the epidemiology of heartwater. More information on the infection rate in and infectivity of ticks (percentage of infected ticks) offer challenging research possibilities.     

The antibody response of sheep to vaccination against Johne's disease

Extract

Vaccination has been promoted for the control of Johne's disease in sheep. At present vaccination is used especially in merino flocks.