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Epidemiology of Bovine Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis in Commercial Dairy Farms of Puerto Rico

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Epidemiology of Bovine Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis in Commercial Dairy Farms of Puerto Rico EPIDEMIOLOGY OF BOVINE ANAPLASMOSIS AND BABESIOSIS IN COMMERCIAL DAIRY FARMS OF PUERTO RICO By JOSÉ HUGO URDAZ RODRÍGUEZ A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2007 1 © 2007 José Hugo Urdaz Rodríguez 2 This dissertation is dedicated to my beautiful family. My mother and grandmother who listened, supported me through each day of all these years of intense work, and always believed in me. My father who gave me courage and practical solutions to the many obstacles I found during this study. To my sisters, Vannesa and Lorraine, and their husbands, who always looked for bright alternatives to solve my problems, and especially to my wonderful nephew and niece, Lucas Fabián and Victoria Sofía, and to God who guided me throughout all the difficult challenges I faced during this stage of my career. The world is made from the hands of those who have the courage to dream and who are willing to take risks of living these dreams. ―Paulo Coehlo 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to thank my supervisory committee members for their support during my Ph.D. program, Dr. Pedro Melendez, Dr. Owen Rae, Dr. Art Donovan, Dr. Michael Binford, and particularly Dr. Rick Alleman, for his strong moral support and expertise in Anaplasma marginale and Dr. Geoff Fosgate, for his guidance throughout my research program. Dr. Fosgate’s thorough epidemiological and statistical approaches, work ethics, and emphasis on clear scientific communication and proper experimentation have been wonderful examples for me. I would also like to thank Dr. John Fernández Van Cleve, Dean and Director of the School of Agriculture at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus and Dr. José R. Latorre, Director of the Department of Animal Science at the School of Agriculture for providing the facilities to carry out the fieldwork in Puerto Rico. In addition, I want to thank the staff at the Agriculture Experiment Station especially María de los Ángeles Minguela, Lynette Feliciano, and Silvia Rivera for their unconditional help and support. From the ‘Fondo para el Fomento de la Industria Lechera de Puerto Rico’, I want to thank Luis ‘Tatá’ Cordero, José Benítez, and Juan Pedró for their full support during the preparatory stages of the study. Most of all, I wish to thank all the dairy farmers who participated in this study, without their cooperation this study would not have been possible. I would like to thank the entire staff from the State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Dr. Gabriel González Calderón and especially Mr. David Vega, the laboratory supervisor, Dr. Héctor Díaz Collazo, the state veterinarian, and Angela for kindly allowing me to use their laboratory facilities and equipment to perform the serological analyses for these studies. From the Department of Entomology at the University of Florida, I want to thank Dr, Jerry Butler, Dr. Phil Kaufman and Lois Woods for instructing me and providing the necessary 4 materials and equipment to process tick larvae for identification. In addition, I want to thank Dr. Lance Durden from Georgia Southern University for his help in the confirmation of tick larvae identifications. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to faculty at Texas A&M, Department of Entomology and Pathobiology. I want to thank Dr. Pete Teel for his excellent recommendations and insights during the development of the tick collection study, Dr. Gale Wagner for his support and interest in Puerto Rico, and particularly Dr. Surya Waghela for assisting with serological testing and expertise in Babesia spp. I want to thank Graeme Cumming for his patience and his time during the landscape ecology course to help me develop the GIS sampling methodology for the tick survey. From the USDA-APHIS-VS in Puerto Rico, I want to give special thanks to Dr. Carlos Soto, area epidemiology officer, for providing insights and documentation about the status of bovine anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and the tropical cattle tick on the island. From Puerto Rico, I also want to thank Dr. José Torrado and Dr. Anabelle Sálico for sharing their field experience with me. Dr. Sálico provided information concerning about the funding opportunities available from the Colegio de Médicos Veterinarios de Puerto Rico. Students were also an important component of my experience in this program. I want to thank Mario Rosario, master student at the University of Puerto Rico, School of Agricultural Sciences and Terry Woodland, third year veterinary student at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine for helping in the collection and processing of data. I also want to mention my fellow graduate students Pablo, José Alfredo, and Katie because they always knew that I would be able to finish this dissertation. 5 I would also want to thank all the administrative, laboratory and computer services staff at the University of Florida, College of Veterinary Medicine because without them this dissertation would not have been possible. They are Judy Chastain, Sally O’Connell, Frances Edwards, Heather Sorenson, Elizabeth Pritchard, Stephanie Stein, Megan Bible, Bobby Lee, and Max Donner. I want to thank all the people I contacted for their personal expertise in the field of bovine anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and the tropical cattle tick. Special thanks go to a little angel who always gave me a hug and made me laugh during the most difficult moments and always saw the light for me, Inez Ellerbe, I will always remembered you. I also want to thank my cousin Alexis ‘Bio” Zaragoza and my dad for helping me during the tick collections in Puerto Rico. Finally, my dissertation would not have been possible without the unconditional love, support, and understanding from my family at every step of the way. Their efforts and faith in me have meant more than they will ever realize. This material is based on research supported by USDA/CSREES Grant No. 2005-34135- 18020 in Tropical/Subtropical Agriculure Research, Fondo para el Fomento de la Industria Lechera de Puerto Rico, and the Colegio de Médicos Veterinarios de Puerto Rico. 6 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...............................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................................11 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................13 ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................15 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................17 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................19 Epidemiology of Bovine Anaplasmosis .................................................................................19 Etiologic Agent................................................................................................................19 Clinical Presentation and Pathology of the Disease........................................................19 Antigenic Variation .........................................................................................................20 Antigenic Diversity and Distribution of A. marginale ....................................................23 Host Occurrence and Breed Resistance...........................................................................25 Life Cycle Stages and Development ...............................................................................25 Methods of Transmission ................................................................................................28 Immune Response and Immunity....................................................................................37 Endemic Stability ............................................................................................................38 Treatment and Prevention................................................................................................39 Epidemiology of Bovine Babesiosis.......................................................................................42 Etiologic Agent................................................................................................................42 Clinical Presentation and Pathology of the Disease........................................................43 Antigenic Variation .........................................................................................................45 Antigenic Diversity and Distribution of B. bovis and B. bigemina.................................46 Host Occurrence and Breed Resistance...........................................................................47 Life Cycle Stages and Development ...............................................................................47 Methods of Transmission ................................................................................................50 Immune Response and Immunity....................................................................................51 Endemic Stability ............................................................................................................52 Treatment and Prevention................................................................................................53
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