Sheep may help spread nightmare cattle parasite

Publicly released:
New Zealand
Image by Sara Price from Pixabay
Image by Sara Price from Pixabay

New Zealand researchers have proven that sheep can carry and potentially spread the parasite behind the bovine anaemia epidemic. Sheep are asymptomatic carriers of the tick-borne parasite Theileria orientalis, meaning they are unaffected by the disease but can spread it to ticks which feed on them. The researchers suggest it could explain how the disease spread so quickly through the North Island after the outbreak in 2012.

 

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Research Elsevier, Web page
Journal/
conference:
Veterinary Parasitology
Research:Paper
Organisation/s: Massey University, AgResearch
Funder: Massey University Research Fund and the Lewis Fitch Research Fund
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