Bovine besnoitiosis: Epidemiological and clinical aspects

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Abstract

Bovine besnoitiosis, due to the cyst-forming apicomplexan Besnoitia besnoiti, is widespread in Africa, in Asia and in the south of Europe. This infection leads to major economic losses in cattle production with a decrease in milk production, transient of definitive sterility of bulls and mortality. Since its emergence in Europe (Germany, Spain and Centre of France), more attention has been given to this infection during the last 10 years, including the recent development of serological methods for diagnosis. The life cycle of B. besnoiti remains a mystery: the definitive host is unknown and the transmission routes are poorly understood. B. besnoiti is thought to be transmitted mainly by hematophagous insects. This paper presents a review of what is currently known of the epidemiology of bovine besnoitiosis and the key manifestations of the disease. It highlights the urgent need for research programs to improve efficient and sustainable control methods.

Introduction

Besnoitia besnoiti is a cyst-forming coccidian parasite of cattle, widely distributed in Africa, Asia and in southwestern Europe. Bovine besnoitiosis received little attention until the end of the 20th century when its geographical distribution and prevalence seemed to increase sharply. Previously, this disease was only encountered in the south west of France; clinical cases are now regularly reported in the French Alps, the Massif Central and occasionally in the Loire region (Alzieu et al., 2007). In addition, an outbreak of cattle besnoitiosis was recently reported for the first time in Germany (Mehlhorn et al., 2009). Bovine besnoitiosis is responsible for severe economic losses on affected farms including mortality, weight loss, prolonged convalescence, definitive or transient sterility in males and a decline in milk production, especially in recently affected areas (Cortes et al., 2005). There is little information on the modes of transmission and no definite recommendation to control this parasitic disease. The present article summarizes what is known of the taxonomic status of B. besnoiti and the main features of epidemiology, diagnosis and control.

Section snippets

Besnoitia besnoiti: a single species with various strains or not?

B. besnoiti (Marotel, 1912) Henry, 1913, the causative agent of bovine besnoitiosis, is an obligat intracellular protozoan belonging to the genus Besnoitia, in the family Sarcocystidae within the phylum Apicomplexa. The genus Besnoitia refers to Besnoit and Robin in honour of their first description of B. besnoiti in France, in 1912 (Jellison, 1956) at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse. Porotozoa of this genus infect a wide range of domestic and wild species, including cattle, goat,

An unexplained, expanding protozoosis of cattle

The concept of different populations or strains may be important in understanding the current expansion of bovine besnoitiosis. B. besnoiti infects a wide range of ruminants including impala (Aepyceros melanpus), kudu (Tragelus strepsiceros), blue wildebeest and cattle (Leighton and Gajadhar, 2001). It is distributed in several countries of Sub-Saharan Africa (Pols, 1960, Bigalke et al., 1967) and Asia (Lee et al., 1970, Peteshev et al., 1974, Wang and Liu, 1987). It has also been reported in

Mysterious life cycle and hypotheses for expansion

Three concomitant events have been suggested to explain the recent spreading of bovine besnoitiosis (Alzieu et al., 2007):

  • •

    the possible role of other intermediate hosts such as cervids or rodents and/or wild carnivores needs to be more fully investigated in the hypothesis of a cattle-wildlife cycle (Franc and Cadiergues, 1999, Berhault, 2008). The increase of wild ungulates in Europe could be a decisive factor in persistence and expansion of besnoitiosis in cattle. Unfortunately no study has yet

Description of the main epidemiological features

In enzootic and in epizootic areas, infection is widespread within cattle populations, but the proportion of infected cattle that develop the disease is lower (Pols, 1960, Bigalke, 1968, Legrand, 2003, Bourdeau et al., 2004, Cortes et al., 2006b, Alzieu et al., 2007). Three clinical classes can be defined after contamination by B. besnoiti: a small proportion of animals developing typical clinical signs; a larger subset of seropositive individuals with sclero-conjunctival cysts; the largest

Clinical signs and lesions

Usually, only a limited proportion of infected animals develop clinical signs. The reasons of this individual variation are not yet known but could be due to a difference in resistance among animals or in virulence among strains or to the quantity of parasites transmitted by vectors. A short incubation period (6 to 10 days) precedes three successive clinical phases. The febrile stage of the infection (temperature rises until 41 or 42 ̊C) lasts 2 to 10 days and is associated with an intense

Diagnosis

Clinical cases are easy to identify when animals develop the chronic phase of the disease. To confirm the clinical suspicion at this stage of the disease, a visual examination of sclera conjunctiva and a histological examination of skin are of great value due to the very high number of cysts in sick animals. A rapid and inexpensive skin biopsy smear test has been proposed by Sanussi (1991) to confirm suspected clinical cases in the field. Nevertheless, as reported before, the early phase of

Control

There is currently no satisfactory treatment for bovine besnoitiosis. Sulfamides are commonly used to diminish the severity of clinical signs (sulfadimerazine, 200 mg/kg BW or sulfadimethoxine, 80 mg/kg BW, for at least 7 days). However, these drugs usually fail to cure the infected cattle and relapses are not rare, even if treatment is administered quickly and correctly (personal observations). In the field, some practitioners use tetracyclines, but the efficacy has not been clearly

Conclusion

Bovine besnoitiosis is an emergent parasitic disease of cattle in Europe. Due to its economic importance and the current lack of knowledge on this disease, it is a major necessity to develop specific research programs in epidemiology, diagnosis and control as well. B. besnoiti remains a current parasite with “more questions than answers”.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest with the contents of this paper in any respect

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