Bovine cerebral theileriosis - a report on two cases occurring in the Union

Abstract

1. Two cases of bovine cerebral theileriosis in the Union of South Africa due to Theileria mutans are described. 2. Clinically the animals exhibited a staggering and swaying gait, prostration, struggling and galloping movements, frothing at the mouth, and a subnormal temperature. 3. Macroscopically the brain showed focal yellow discoloration, hyperaemia and thickening of the meninges, and haemorrhagic infiltration of the dorsal region of the cerebrum and cerebellum. 4. Microscopically a lymphocytic leptomeningitis, perivascular encephalitis, focal demyelinisation, glial proliferation, thrombosis of the blood vessels and Koch bodies in the lymphoid cells were present. 5. This disease bears marked similarity to turning sickness due to Theileria parva described in East Africa and presumably due to Theileria mutans described in West Africa.