973 THE CLINICAL COURSE OF BOVINE BESNOITIOSIS Julia C. Scharr1, Martin C.

Langenmayer2, Gereon Schares3, Monir Majzoub2, Ana Rostaher4, Nicole S. Gollnick1

1

Clinic for Ruminants with Ambulatory and Herd Health Services, Veterinary Faculty, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Oberschleissheim, 2Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Veterinary Faculty, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, 3Institute for Epidemiology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Wusterhausen, 4Clinic for Small Animal Medicine, Veterinary Faculty, Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, Munich, Germany Bovine besnoitiosis is caused by the cyst-forming protozoan Besnoitia besnoiti. It was recently classified as an emerging disease in Europe by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Serological tests are available but not routinely performed and affected cattle herds are usually identified when severe clinical cases are presented to veterinarians familiar with the disease. Subclinically infected animals or cattle with mild clinical symptoms represent a reservoir from which the parasite may be transmitted by animal-toanimal contact, iatrogenically or by insect vectors. Knowledge of the clinical course of bovine besnoitiosis is important in order to identify infected animals as soon as possible and prevent disease spreading. Additionally, understanding of the disease's dynamics is very helpful for epidemiological assessments. In this study we examined four female cattle, which became infected under natural conditions. They were followed for a period of six to eight months in all stages of the disease. Clinical exams where performed daily during the first three months and bimonthly thereafter. We also examined 99 cattle from the first besnoitiosis outbreak farm in Germany every six months over a period of two years. The course of disease can be divided into an acute and a chronic phase. After infection, proliferation of the parasite occurs in vascular endothelial cells and cattle may show the following clinical signs four to 14 days post infection (p.i.): fever, LAMENESS, subcutaneous edema, swelling of superficial lymph nodes, nasal and ocular discharge. Characteristic for the chronic phase, which starts three to four weeks p.i., is the formation of intracellular cysts mainly in the mucous membranes and the skin. Cysts in the scleral conjunctiva become visible as early as three weeks after the start of the acute phase and subsequently appear in the mucous membrane of the vestibulum vaginae. We found the higher the number of parasitic cysts in the scleral conjunctiva, the earlier the appearance of cyst in the vestibulum vaginae. Visible cysts may disappear after some months and can reappear in a later phase of the disease. In later disease stages it is possible to observe cysts solely in the vestibulum vaginae. Skin alterations such as thickening and alopecia became noticeable only in 3% of animals in the herd that had been affected by the parasite for some years prior to our investigations.