Piroplasmose em equinos: revisão de literatura

Abstract

Equine piroplasmosis is considered a disease with an endemic worldwide distribution in several continents, such as: Central and South America, parts of Africa, Asia and Europe. In Brazil, there are large numbers of infected animals within animal animals, due to the clinic of the disease and as commercial sources of infected animals. The protozoa which cause this hemoparasitosis are Babesia caballi and Theileira equi, and it is transmitted by ticks Dermacentor nitens and Rhipicephalus microplus, respectively. Transmission can occur through iatrogenic pathway, by blood transfusion and infected needles, via the transplacental route on infection caused by T. equi and biological vectors, such as ticks, at the time it’s feeding on a host. The main clinical signs related to this disease are due to hemolytic anemia caused by the protozoan, sucha as jaundice, hemoglobinuria, apathy, and low athletic performance. As a form of diagnosis, there are several direct and indirect identification techniques of the parasites, such as blood smear, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enzyme linked immunonosorbent assay (ELISA), reaction of indirect immunofluorescence (RIFI) and complement fixation test (TFC), which can help the physician veterinarian on the decision of the therapeutic protocol that will be applied in each case, considering the epidemiological area in which the animal is. The recommended therapeutical protocol for endemic areas is proposed as a single dose of 2.2 to 4.4mg/kg of imidocarb dipropionate for B. caballi infection. And a 4.4 mg/kg dose, in a total of two applications with an interval of 24 hours between applications, for infections by T. equi. O/ enzootic instability areas, this protocol changes as the objective becomes to eliminate completely the pathogen, therefore, to treat T. equi infection is necessary to use four doses of 4 mg/kg, with an interval of 72 hours between applications, and for B. caballi infections, is recommended two applications of 2 mg/kg dose, with an interval of 24 hours between doses. Therefore, it is important to reinforce the prevention methods and control of this disease throughout the properties, to minimize the economic losses.