Diagnosis of bovine besnoitiosis in a bull born in Italy

Bovine besnoitiosis is a parasitic disease of cattle caused by the cyst-forming coccidium Besnoitia besnoiti. The disease has a significant economic impact due to adverse effects on male fertility, reduction of slaughter weight, and a mortality of up to 10 per cent. Knowledge on transmission routes for B besnoiti is still fragmentary. Previously, besnoitiosis has been reported from Africa, Asia, Israel and the European countries France, Spain, Portugal, and Germany (Rostaher and others 2010). In September 2009, bovine besnoitiosis was diagnosed in a breeding bull born in Italy (Gentile and others 2010). We investigated the within herd prevalence of B besnoiti infections in the Italian herd in which the affected bull was kept. All animals above six months of age were examined clinically for typical signs of the disease and serologically for B besnoiti-specific antibodies in immunoblots and in an immunofluorescent antibody test (Schares and others 2010). The history of the farm and individual animals were recorded. The overall seroprevalence in the herd was 41.2 per cent (47 of 114). Eleven (23.4 per cent) seropositive animals also had clinical signs of disease. Thirty-eight of the 47 seropositive animals (78.7 per cent) had been grazing together with cattle from two other herds in a Tuscan national park. Thus far we have serological and clinical evidence that cattle from one of the other farms are also affected by B besnoiti. Animals from the third farm have not yet been examined. This is the first report of bovine besnoitiosis in cattle born in Italy. Based on our investigations it is not yet possible to state how the disease entered into the Italian cattle population. Due to an increasing number of case reports over the past decade, bovine besnoitiosis was recently classified by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) as an emerging disease in Europe (EFSA 2010). Because of this it is important to report the disease to help with epidemiological investigations in the affected European regions as well as to inform veterinarians and cattle owners about this as yet fairly unknown parasitic disease.