Theileriosis of sheep and goats in China

Theileriosis is an important disease of sheep and goats in West China. Its main distribution includes Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Sichuan. The epidemic period is from late March to July with April-May being the peak months. This is the period of most intensive tick attack by Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis (77.2-99.24%) during the year. It has been proved that the nymphs and adults, which develop from larvae and nymphs engorged on infected sheep or goats can transmit the pathogen. Experimental infections revealed the incubation period, clinical signs and the pathogen's morphological characteristics. The disease was more serious in lambs and exotic adult animals than native adult animals. The sickness rates of lambs, exotic and native adult animals were 78-85%, 41% and 9% respectively; death rates were 81.4%, 62.5% and 65% respectively. Clinical prophylaxis, chemical therapy and destruction of ticks have been carried out with antiparasitic compounds to control the disease since 1982. Experiments demonstrated that the curative rate was up to 76-86%, but not satisfactory prophylactic methods were found.