**9. Besnoitiosis**

#### **9.1 Etiology**

Besnoitia are protozoan parasite with classified 7 species, which only 2 of these species are important in livestock animals. Besnoitiosis is a emergent parasitic disease that caused by Besnoitia besnoiti in cattle, and Besnoitia caprae in goats. These parasites are in the family Sarcocystidae (Radostits et al., 2008), and they are an obligate intracellular apicomplexan protozoan parasites (Majzoub et al., 2010).


The Besnoitia species are shown in table 10.

Table 10. Besnoitia species

#### **9.2 Epidemiology**

492 A Bird's-Eye View of Veterinary Medicine

The pathogenesis of giardiasis is similar to cryptosporidiosis. The parasite cause diffuse injure to the small intestinal mucosal surface. Giardia infection cause a reduction in the height of the villus and microvillus, and loss of the absorptive surface area throughout the small intestine. If disease occur in animals, it is believed to result from nutrient

Clinical signs of giardiasis include acute or chronic diarrhea, dehydration, weight loss, abdominal pain and reduction in weight gain. The diarrhea may be continuous or

Diagnostic methods for introduce of giardia include direct microscopy, fluorescent antibody

Infected sheep and goats can be treated with fenbendazole (5-10 mg /kg) for 3 days (Navarre and Pugh, 2002). Fenbendazole (10 mg /kg BW daily for 3 days) and albendazole (20 mg /kg BW daily for 3 days), have been shown also to be effective in calves (Thompson, 2004; Radostits et al., 2008). Geurden et al., (2006), demonstrated the efficacy and safety of a 5 day treatment with paromomycin against an experimental Giardia infection in calves. Ozmen et al., (2006), suggested that five day treatment with Trimethoprim + Sulfodoxine and multivitamin complexes can be effective in the prevention and treatment of Giardia

Re-infection frequently occurs if the sources of contamination are not eliminated and the

Besnoitia are protozoan parasite with classified 7 species, which only 2 of these species are important in livestock animals. Besnoitiosis is a emergent parasitic disease that caused by Besnoitia besnoiti in cattle, and Besnoitia caprae in goats. These parasites are in the family Sarcocystidae (Radostits et al., 2008), and they are an obligate intracellular apicomplexan

Besnoitia besnoiti Skin, conjunctiva Cattle Cat, wild cats (Lion, leopard) Besnoitia caprae Skin, conjunctiva Goats Cat, wild cats (Lion, leopard)

**Specie Affinity site Intermediate hosts Definitive host** 

**8.3 Pathogenesis** 

**8.4 Clinical findings** 

**8.6 Treatment and control** 

intestinalis in lambs and kids.

**9. Besnoitiosis** 

**9.1 Etiology** 

intermittent.

**8.5 Diagnosis** 

malabsorption and due to diarrhea.

staining, ELISA, and PCR(Gunn et al., 2009).

frequency of transmission is high (Thompson, 2004).

protozoan parasites (Majzoub et al., 2010). The Besnoitia species are shown in table 10.

Table 10. Besnoitia species

Disease occur as outbreaks in tropical and subtropical countries and sporadically in other countries (Radostits et al., 2008). Bovine besnoitiosis is common in Africa, Asia and in the South of Euroup ( Jacquiet et al., 2010), Caprine besnoitiosis in Kenya, Uganda, Iran, and Kazakhastan. In livestock, cattle and goats are intermediate host, and cats are their definitive hosts (Radostits et al., 2008). It is thought that agent is transmitted mainly by hematophagous insects (Jacquiet et al., 2010).
