Resumen de Haemoparasites in small ruminants in european countries: challengesand clinical relevance
Small ruminants could be infested with several haemoparasites inEurope, whereas most of them are transmitted by ticks. Anaplasmosis,babesiosis and theileriosis are the most important tick-borne diseases insmall ruminants. In Europe, the main tick species associated with smallruminants are Dermacentor marginatus, Haemaphysalis punctata,Rhipicephalus bursa and Ixodes ricinus, whereas I. ricinus is thedominant species. Tick-borne pathogens may cause mild or unspecificclinical manifestations, an active surveillance is therefore necessaryin order to investigate the real distribution of these pathogens. Thepresent review focus on the following haemoparasites: Anaplasmaovis, A. phagocytophilum, Babesia ovis/motasi and Theileria spp.Climate change in Europe may have an effect on the distributionand establishment of ticks and tick-borne infections. In addition,millions of ticks are annually spread by migrating birds, making thepossibility for ticks and pathogens to be transmitted and establishedin new geographical areas. Integrated tick control strategies should beimplemented in order to control these infections. These strategies mustbe based on host resistance to ticks and to the infections they transmit,strategic tick control on the actual pastures, cost/benefit analyses of theacaricidal applications and the availability of vaccines against ticks andtick-borne diseases. However, controls of ticks and tick-borne infectionsare a challenging issue.
