304 



THE PIROPLASMASIDA 



adult tick becomes infected by feeding on 

 an infected bird, it takes 26 days or more 

 before it is able to transmit it to another 

 bird (Bedford and Coles, 1933). Ticks 

 can remain infective for as long as 162 

 days. The stages of development in the 

 tick have not been described. .4. pid- 

 lonini can be transmitted experimentally 

 by intravenous, intraperitoneal, subcutan- 

 eous or intramuscular injection or by 

 scarification. 



The incubation period in chickens is 

 12 to 15 or more days. 



Pathogenesis : A. pullonim may 

 cause either a latent, chronic, subacute 

 or acute disease in chickens. The acute 

 form occurs primarily in young or im- 

 ported birds in endemic regions, while 

 the chronic and latent forms occur pri- 

 marily in adult birds in endemic regions. 

 Severe outbreaks have been reported in 

 chickens in Algeria, Egypt, South Africa 

 and Greece. Ducks and geese are appar- 

 ently less seriously affected. 



is said to be highly effective, but must be 

 given intravenously. 



Prevention and Control: These de- 

 pend upon elimination of the tick vectors. 



AEGYPTLANELLA MOSHKOVSKII 

 (SCHURENKOVA, 1938) 

 POISSON, 1953 



Synonyms : Sogdianella tnoshkovskii, 

 Babesia ardeae, Niittallia shortti, Babesia 

 moshkuvskii. 



Hosts : Chicken, turkey (?), pheas- 

 ant (?), eagle (Gypaetiis barbatus), Indian 

 house crow [Coriiis splendens), heron 

 [Ardea cinerea), Egyptian kestrel {Falco 

 timiunculus). 



Location : Erythrocytes. 



Geographic Distribution : Indochina, 

 USSR (Tadzhikistan), Egypt, Pakistan, 

 India, United States (?), South Africa (?), 

 Iran (?). 



The principal signs are anemia, fever, 

 icterus, diarrhea and anorexia. Necropsy 

 findings include splenomegaly, liver de- 

 generation, characteristic greyish yellow 

 kidneys, intestinal congestion, petechial 

 hemorrhages on the serosa, and some- 

 times pericarditis. Adult birds usually 

 recover. 



Immunity : Birds which have recov- 

 ered from infection are premunized, but 

 their latent infections can be reactivated 

 by splenectomy or by intercurrent disease. 



Diagnosis : A. piillornm infections 

 can be diagnosed by identifying the para- 

 sites in stained blood smears. They are 

 difficult to stain, however, so the staining 

 time must be prolonged. Affected birds 

 are often simultaneously infected with 

 Borrelia aiiseriiia. the cause of fowl 

 spirochetosis, which is also transmitted 

 by Argas persicus. 



Treatment : Trypan blue and acri- 

 flavine are ineffective against A. pnllorum, 

 and variable results have been obtained 

 with stovarsol and quinacrine. Ichthargan 



This species was first described by 

 Schurenkova (1938) from Gypaetns bar- 

 batus in Tadzhikistan. Laird and Lari 

 (1957) found what they considered the same 

 species in an Indian house crow in Pakis- 

 tan, reviewed the literature on avian 

 babesioid hematozoa, and concluded that 

 the following should be assigned to this 

 species: The form described from the 

 chicken in Indochina by Henry (1939), the 

 form described under the name Babesia 

 ardeae by Toumanoff (1940) Ivom Ardea 

 cinerea in Indochina, and the form des- 

 cribed under the name Niittallia shortti 

 by Mohamed (1952) from Falco tinnuncu- 

 liis in Egypt. They were not sure of its 

 relationship to the forms reported from 

 chickens in Philadelphia, New York and 

 South Africa by Coles (1937), from chick- 

 ens in the Punjab by Abdussalam (1945), 

 from turkey poults in California by 

 McNeil and Hinshaw (1944), and from the 

 pheasant in Iran by Rousselot (1947), all 

 of which they considered insufficiently 

 described. I am including these latter 

 forms here as a matter of convenience, 

 without prejudice as to their final dispo- 

 sition. 



