Abstract

LAVERDE TRUJILLO, Laura M  and  BENAVIDES BENAVIDES, Bibiana. ¿Bovine besnoitiosis: present in Colombia?. Rev. Lasallista Investig. [online]. 2011, vol.8, n.2, pp.154-162. ISSN 1794-4449.

Bovine besnoitiosis has recently been classed as a re-emerging disease in Western and Central Europe, due to a recent increase in reported cases and a geographic expansion of the disease in cattle herds in continental Europe. The disease has been present in some parts of France, Spain and Portugal for many years, a fact which may be an indicative of the disease's expansion, and it is important to know about it because it has a lot of similar lessons if compared with diseases we have in Colombia. The infection can cause serious adverse effects, both during the acute and the chronic phases that could compromise animal welfare. Bovine besnoitiosis has two distinct sequential clinical stages, namely the acute anasarca stage, which is mainly associated with the proliferation of endozoites in blood vessels, and the chronic scleroderma stage, which is mainly associated with the formation of cysts. The severity of the disease may vary between mild and severe, with possible deaths in seriously affected animals. Many infected animals remain asymptomatic and the only sign of the disease is the presence of cysts in the sclera conjunctiva and/or the vulvae area in cows.

Keywords : bovine besnoitiosis; besnoitia besnoiti; anasarca; scleroderma; hyperkeratosis.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in English     · English ( pdf )