168 



THE TELOSPORASIDA AND THE COCCIDIA PROPER 



A membrane lines the oocyst wall, which 

 is illustrated as composed of a single 

 layer. The oocyst wall is 1 to 1. 5 /i thick, 

 typically smooth, homogeneous, transpar- 

 ent and yellowish brown; relatively rarely 

 it may be semi-transparent and heavily 

 mammillated, and all gradations between 

 these two conditions occur. The smooth- 

 walled forms are more common than the 

 rough. 



The sporulation time at room temper- 

 ature in Alabama is 2 to 3 days. There is 

 no oocyst residuum or polar granule. The 

 sporocysts were illustrated by Christensen 

 and Porter (1939) as elongate with one end 

 pointed. The sporozoites lie lengthwise, 

 head to tail, in them and contain 3 clear 

 globules, 1 of which may be the nucleus. 

 The sporocyst residuum consists of 

 rounded masses or individual granules be- 

 tween the sporozoites. 



Christensen and Porter (1939) showed 

 that the rough and smooth forms were the 

 same species by infecting a calf with rough 

 oocysts and recovering all types, but pre- 

 dominantly smooth ones, from it. 



Life Cycle : The endogenous stages 

 of this species are unknown. Christensen 

 and Porter (1939) found that the prepatent 

 period in one calf was 24 days. Large 

 numbers of oocysts were discharged for 3 

 days, and small numbers for the next few 

 weeks. 



Pathogenesis : Christensen and Por- 

 ter (1939) produced a profuse, watery, 

 green diarrhea accompanied by slight apa- 

 thy in a 2-week-old calf following admin- 

 istration of 8000 sporulated oocysts. The 

 signs appeared 9 days after infection (i.e. , 

 15 days before the first oocysts appeared 

 in the feces) and continued for 5 days. 

 According to Davis and Bowman (1952), 

 infections with E. aubiiynensis are usually 

 accompanied by straining and the passing 

 of visible blood and mucus, especially 

 following experimental inoculation with 

 large numbers of oocysts or in natural 

 outbreaks where contamination is heavy. 



EIMERIA BOVIS 

 (ZUBLIN, 1908) 

 FIEBIGER, 1912 



Synonyms : Coccidium bovis, 

 Elmer ia canadensis (pro parte), Eimcria 

 smithi, Eimeria thianelhi, Globidiiiiii 

 fusiformis (?). 



Hosts : Ox, zebu, water buffalo. 

 Wilson (1931) was unable to infect pigs or 

 goats with this species. 



Location : The schizonts are mostly 

 in the small intestine and the sexual stages 

 in the cecum, colon and terminal ileum. 



Geographic Distribution : Worldwide. 



Prevalence : This is one of the com- 

 monest coccidia of cattle. Boughton (1945) 

 found it in 41% of 2492 bovine fecal samples 

 in south-eastern U.S. Hasche and Todd 

 (1959) found it in 41% of 355 cattle in Wis- 

 consin. Supperer (1952) found it in 66% of 

 130 cattle in Austria. Cordero del Cam- 

 pillo (1960) reported it and other bovine 

 species in Spain. Torres and Ramos (1939) 

 found it in 49% of 136 cattle in Brazil. 

 Yakimoff, Gousseff and Rastegaieff (1932) 

 found it in 40% of 126 cattle in Uzbekistan. 

 Yakimoff (1933) found it in 47% of 17 zebus, 

 23% of 30 water buffaloes and 39% of 44 

 cattle in Azerbaidzhan. Marchenko (1937) 

 found it in 54% of 137 cattle in the North 

 Caucasus. Rao and Hiregaudar (1954) 

 stated that it is common in Bombay State, 

 India. Ruiz (1959) found it in 7% of 100 

 adult cattle in the San Jose, Costa Rica 

 abattoir. 



Morphology : The oocysts of £. bovis 

 were described by Christensen (1941). 

 Five hundred oocysts measured 23 to 34 

 by 17 to 23 n with a mean of 27. 7 by 20. 3 ji . 

 Their length-width ratios ranged from 1. 1 

 to 1 . 8 with a mean of 1 . 37. They are typ- 

 ically stoutly ovoid and somewhat blunted 

 across the narrow end, but vary consider- 

 ably in shape, especially in heavy infec- 

 tions, subellipsoidal, asymmetrical and 

 elongated, tapered oocysts also occurring. 



