New article: Persistence of Eimeria bovis in soil

Abstract
Eimeriosis is a disease that occurs globally and often affects cattle grazing on pastures contaminated with oocysts of the pathogenic species Eimeria bovis, Eimeria zuernii or Eimeria alabamensis, respectively. Nonetheless, little is understood regarding oocyst persistence on the pasture. The study was performed in the temperate climate zone. Soil samples were spiked with 100,000 E. bovis oocysts in July 2010 or with 50,000 oocysts in October 2010, respectively, both either with our without addition of cattle faeces. The soil samples were exposed to natural environmental conditions until April 2011. A subset of the samples was analysed immediately after spiking as positive control. The oocysts were recovered by a flotation method and counted in a reading chamber. On average, 23 % of the oocysts could be recovered from the positive control. The recovery of oocysts dropped to 0.30 % of the original level in the samples prepared in July independent of the addition of faeces, whereas the oocyst count was higher in the samples prepared in October, both without (2.05 %) and with (2.64 %) faecal material. No differences were observed between presence of oocysts or oocyst counts recovered in the presence or absence of faeces. Presence of faeces had a positive influence on oocyst integrity. During the winter season, the number of oocysts in the soil was lowered under the detection limit in most samples. On the other hand, the comparatively short 3-month summer period had a significant influence on the number of persisting oocysts too.

Full article: 
Lassen B, Lepik T, Bangoura B. Persistence of Eimeria bovis in soil. Parasitol Res. 2013 Jul;112(7):2481-6. doi: 10.1007/s00436-013-3413-4. Epub 2013 Apr 7.

Review of Estonian research on protozoan parasites 1950-2008

Vast amounts of scientific knowledge is currently disappearing. Before gaining independence countries such as Estonia largely published in Estonian and Russian. This information has to a large extent been unknown to the international community.
The Scandinavian-Baltic Society for Parasitology (SBSP) has created a grant for researchers to encourage them to compile English reviews on local research in parasitology before the information is lost.

This review at the bottom of this entry was compiled on Estonian research on parasitic protozoans in livestock and pets. Most of this literature was found in the drawers of retired researchers and often not even listed in the libraries.

The published review covers studies of several types of studies on parasitic protozoans. Articles compiled were originally in English, Russian and Estonain. A short review is presented here in bullitform:


Picture (Robot Nine)

Babesia spp. (babesiosis)
Cattle: Prevalence studies and control efforts in the 1960'ies

Cryptosporidium spp. (cryptosporidiosis, coccidiosis)
Cattle: An outbreak study in an Estonian farm (2004)
Pigs: Studies of different production systems discovered the parasite more frequently in organic farms.

Eimeria spp. (eimeriosis, coccidiosis) 
Cattle: Prevalence studies in the 1970'ies and 1980'ies. Species distributions. Control methods and effect of disease.
Pigs: Post-mortem diagnosis of gastro-intestinal infections such as coccidiosis. Studies of species distribution in different production systems (including domesticated wild boar).
Sheep: Frequency of signs of coccidiosis. Prevalence in lambs and ewes.
Poultry: Mortality rates (1948-1950). Outbreak control using different drugs. Reporting of species (E. sporadica).

Isospora suis (isosporiasis)
Pigs: Prevalence studies.

Sarcocystis spp. (sarcocystiosis)
Cattle: Prevalence. Diagnosis of parasite distribution in different organs. Cases of Cystoisospora spp.


Toxoplasma gondii (toxoplasmosis)
Cats: Case-control study using Toltrazuril.
Humans: Sero-prevalence in humans.

Picture (Vikerraadio): Tartu University rector and professor Alar Karis started his academic career with Eimeria in cattle.


READ MORE IN THE OPEN SCIENCE ARTICLE ONLINE:

Lassen, Brian; Talvik, Heli (2009). Parasitic protozoans in livestock and pets in Estonia. Review. Veterinarija ir Zootechnika, 46 (68), 30 - 36.