From blood collected from 94 cattle at 12 locations in the eastern and northeastern areas of Zimbabwe, DNA was extracted and analysed by polymerase chain reaction with primers previously reported to be specific for Babesia bigemina and Babesia borvis. Overall, DNA of Babesia bigemina was detected in the blood of 33/94 (35%) cattle and DNA from B. bovis was detected in 27/58 (47%) of cattle. The...

Sixteen grey duikers were culled on the farm Riekert 's Laager in the central Transvaal at irregular intervals from May 1979-March 1981. One trematode species, 3 cestode species and 16 nematode species were recovered from these animals. Of these the following are new helminth records for this antelope: Cooperia hungi , Cooperia neitzi , Cooperia pectinata , Trichostrongylus axei, Trichostrongyl...

rove beetle dermatitis produced by the family staphylinidae genus paederus has world- wide distribution some one hundred species of paederus have been found, but it is believed that only 30 of these produce dermatitis. up to 1976 three species of paederus have been found in iran as: p. fusciped curtis; p. pietschmanni bershaner , and p. spectabilis kraatz . observations on the biology of paeder...

Here we describe the purification and characterization of a vitellin (VT) degrading cysteine endopeptidase (VTDCE) from eggs of the hard tick Boophilus microplus. A homogeneous enzyme preparation was obtained by chromatographic fractionation on ion-exchange and gel filtration columns and an autolysis step. This step consisted of incubation of a semipurified enzyme (after the first ion-exchange ...

A survey to determine the incidence of parasites in cattle (n = 386) was conducted in the north eastern Free State between August 1999 and July 2000. Giemsa-stained blood smears were negative for blood parasites. A total of 94% of the cattle were sero-positive for Babesia bigemina by indirect fluorescent antibody test while 87% were sero-positive for Anaplasma by enzyme-linked immunosorbent ass...

Bovine babesiosis, also known as cattle fever, is a tick-borne protozoal disease foreign to the United States. It was eradicated by eliminating the vector species, Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus and Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus, through the efforts of the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program (CFTEP), with the exception of a permanent quarantine zone (PQZ) in south Texas along the b...

Ixodid ticks were collected during the period September 1991 to August 1993 from cattle belonging to small-scale farmers utilising 4 communal grazing areas. Three of these were in North West Province and 1 in Mpumalanga province, South Africa. Ten tick species were collected in North West Province and 7 in Mpumalanga. The adults of Amblyomma hebraeum, Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and Rhipicepha...

Heme proteins are involved in a wide variety of biological reactions, including respiration, oxygen transport and oxygen metabolism [1]. The heme prosthetic group is synthesized in almost all living organisms except for a few pathogenic bacteria and trypanosomatids that use blood as food [2] [3]. There is a general belief that all nucleated animal cells synthesize heme [1] [4]. However, blood-f...