Bovine anaplasmosis and babesiosis in the Lesser Antilles: risk assessment of an unstable epidemiologic situation.
A seroepidemiological survey on tick-borne diseases of ruminants was carried out on 11 islands of the Lesser Antilles from Grenada to St Martin. A total of 1,795 cattle were randomly sampled and sera tested for antibodies to anaplasmosis (Anaplasma marginale) and babesiosis (Babesia bovis and B bigemina) using a dot-ELISA test. Except for anaplasmosis, which was virtually absent from Guadeloupe, the seroprevalence of the 3 tick-borne diseases ranged from 18 to 71%. The epidemiologic situation was considered to be unstable in all of the study sites. The risk of clinical outbreaks was high in all the islands except for B bigemina in Montserrat and St Lucia and B bovis in St Lucia. The practical consequences in terms of tick eradication, tick control, and vaccination are discussed.
Camus
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CIRAD-EMVT, Pointe-à-Pitre, France.
Montenegro-James
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D000367:Age Factors; D000709:Anaplasma / Q000276:immunology; D000712:Anaplasmosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D001403:Babesia / Q000276:immunology; D016793:Babesia bovis / Q000276:immunology; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014900:West Indies / Q000453:epidemiology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial