Theileria transplacental transmission

Bovine theileriosis is a disease of increasing significance in Australia, particularly along the east coast. It is caused by the haemoprotozoan Theileria orientalis that infects erythrocytes in the host animal. Infection with T. orientalis results in clinical signs of lethargy, fever, anaemia, jaundice, abortions and mortalities in naive cattle. T. orientalis has three common subtypes based on differences in their major piroplasm surface protein (MPSP). (Eamens and Jenkins, 2013) Of the three subtypes only the Ikeda subtype is considered to cause clinical disease in Australia. The Ikeda subtype was first detected in Australia in 2007. The Buffeli subtype has occurred in Australia prior to 2007 and is considered benign. The Chitose subtype while being occasionally related to infection (Eamens et al., 2013) is not considered to contribute greatly to disease in Australian herds.