Treatment of natural ovine malignant theileriosis with a chloroform extract...

[Full title: Treatment of natural ovine malignant theileriosis with a chloroform extract of the plant Peganum harmala : research communication]

[Find the meaning and references behind the names: Zhang, Natural, Plant, Class, Shahid, Sheep, Borne, January, Hawa, Rad, Dong, Zhao, Day, Gao, Dose, Liang, Body, Preston, Cure, Show, Cases, Kerman, Randall, Morel, Fan, Iran, Data, Tick, Ing, Fatal, Days, Yin, Alka, Farmer, Rate, Dang, Milk, Hazard, Study, Strong, Hudson, Node, Shown]

INTRODUCTION Malignant theileriosis of sheep is a highly fatal acute or subacute disease caused by the tick-borne protozoan parasite, Theileria lestoquardi which is transmitted by ticks of the family Ixodidae, particularly Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum (Hooshmand-Rad & Hawa 1973; Morel & Uilenberg 1981). The chemotherapeutic efficacy of a number of compounds includ ing parvaquone (Clexon) and buparvaquone (Butalex) has been tested for the treatment of the disease. Tests have shown that these two compounds are effective (Hooshmand-Rad 1989) but they are not easily and quickly eliminated from the body of animals (McHardy, Wekesa, Hudson & Randall 1985) which can constitute a public health hazard if milk and meat of treated animals are consumed by humans. The therapeutic effect of the alka loids of the plant Peganum harmala has been investigated for the treatment of tropical theileriosis in cattle which is caused by Theileria annulata and it was shown that they are effective (Fan, Liang, Men, Gao, Li, Zhao, Hu, Dang, Zhang, Preston & Yin 1997; Hu, Fan, Liang, Zhao, Dang, Gao, Dong, Preston & Yin 1997) In addition, it has been shown that these alkaloids, when inoculated intramuscularly do not infiltrate the muscular tissue surrounding the inoculation site but are also rapidly eliminated from the body (Puzii & Serov 1983). The objective of this study was to study the effect of total alkaloids of P. harmala when used for the treatment of naturally infected cases of ovine malignant theileriosis MATERIALS AND METHODS One hundred sheep suffering from natural infections of malignant theileriosis and belonging to farmers were selected. They were of different ages but all were in the primary phase of the disease as determined by microscopic examination of Giemsa-stained prescapular lymph node biopsy smears in which 153 Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, 73:153–155 (2006) RESEARCH COMMUNICATION Treatment of natural ovine malignant theileriosis with a chloroform extract of the plant Peganum harmala M. MIRZAIEDEHAGHI* Pathobiology Department, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman Kerman, Iran ABSTRACT MIRZAIEDEHAGHI, M. 2006. Treatment of natural ovine malignant theileriosis with a chloroform extract of the plant Peganum harmala . Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research , 73:153–155 One hundred sheep naturally infected with Theileria lestoquardi were treated with a chloroform extract of the plant Peganum harmala . The treatment was continued for 5 days, the dose of extract being 5 mg/kg per day. Sixty-five of the sheep responded to treatment and recovered but 35 did not and died. The cure rate was 65 % Keywords : Malignant ovine theileriosis, Peganum harmala extract, sheep, Theileria lestoquardi * E-mail: dr_mirzaie_mo@mail.uk.ac.ir Accepted for publication 19 January 2006—Editor

[Find the meaning and references behind the names: Every, Daily, Moscow, Mirzaie, Tion, Normal, Clin, Spring, Sel, Fer, Trudy, Sci, Mash, Present, Fever, Kingdom, Agreement, Ana, Levchenko, Razi, Blood, Ssr, Success, Mass, Theil, Severe, Pays, Chester, Agaev, Mir, April, Pro, Small]

154 Treatment of ovine malignant theileriosis with chloroform extract of Peganum harmala fairly numerous schizonts were present. Similar examination of blood smears revealed that piroplasm parasitaemia was rare. In addition, only one or both prescapular lymph node(s) were slightly to moderately enlarged and the rectal temperature was between 40.5 and 41.9 °C. A chloroform extract of P. harmala was prepared from the stems and leaves of the plant according to the method described by Mirzaie & Shaddel (2004). This was administered intramuscularly to the sheep at a dosage rate of 5 mg/kg body mass once a day for 5 days (Fan et al . 1997). After treatment the rectal temperature of the sheep was measured daily in the morning until it dropped to normal values. Their vigor, appetite, visible mucous membranes and other signs were observed clin ically every day. In addition, Giemsa-stained smears prepared every three days from biopsy material of a prescapular lymph node and blood smears were examined for 20 days after commencement of the treatment RESULTS Before treatment lymph node biopsy smears from enlarged prescapular nodes and blood smears showed schizonts or piroplasms, respectively, of T. lestoquardi in all the sheep. However, 12–20 days after the commencement of the treatment schizonts and piroplasms could not be detected in 65 of the sheep. In addition other clinical signs and fever disappeared in these sheep and they all recovered. The clinical signs and parasitemia of the other 35 sheep became progressively more severe and all of them died DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION In this study 65 % of the sheep recovered after treatment but in another experiment reported by Mirzaie & Shaddel (2004) five sheep which had been experimentally infected with T. lestoquardi and then treated with an extract containing the alkaloids of P. harmala , all recovered. The reasons for this apparent discrepancy in the success rate of the treatment in our experiment and that of Mirzaie & Shaddel (2004) could be the different environmental conditions in which their sheep were maintained, the small numbers of sheep they used and the fact that the infection was experimentally induced. Our results are in agreement with that of other experiments in which the alkaloids of P. harmala were used for the treatment of tropical theileriosis in cattle (Agaev, Mirzabekov, Gumbatov & Mirzabekov 1977; Vecherkin, Puzii, Romakhov & Tribunskii 1977; Charyev & Khudaiberdyev 1978; Levchenko 1978, 1979; Puzii, Vetchorkin, Romakhov & Vecherkin 1979; Puzii, Vecherkin, Toptaev, Tsyganova & Duisheev 1982; Fan et al . 1997; Hu et al . 1997). REFERENCES AGAEV, A.A., MIRZABEKOV, D.A., GUMBATOV, M.G. & MIR- ZABEKOV, K.D. 1977. The protection of imported breeding cattle from blood parasitic diseases in Azerbaidzhan. USSR, Azerbaidzhanskii Nauchno-Issledovatel’skii Institut Infor matsii i Tekhniko-Ekonomicheskikh Issledovanii Gosplana Azerbaidzhanskoi SSR: Abstracts of papers of the Scientific Con fer-ence dedicated to the 75 th anniversary of the foundation of the Azerbaidzhani Veterinary Research Institute : 95–96 CHARYEV, O.C. & KHUDAIBERDYEV, D. 1978. The therapeutic efficacy of “Garmala” against theileriasis Trudy-Turkmens-kogo-Sel’skokhozyaistvennogo-Instituta , 20:107–108 FAN, B., LIANG, J., MEN, J., GAO, F., LI, G., ZHAO, S., HU, T., DANG, P., ZHANG, L., PRESTON, P.M. & YIN, H. 1997. Effect of total alkaloid of Peganum harmala L. in the treatment of experimental haemosporidian infections in cattle. Pro ceedings of the European Union International Symposium on Ticks and Tickborne diseases , Tropical Animal Health and Production , 29:4 (supplement), 77 S–83 S HOOSHMAND-RAD, P. 1989. Chemotherapy in ovine malignant theileriosis. Archive Institute Razi , 40:1–8 HOOSHMAND-RAD, P. & HAWA, N.J. 1973. Transmission of Theil eria lestoquardi in sheep by Hyalomma anatolicum ana-tolicumTropical Animal Health and Production , 5:103–109 HU, T.J., FAN, B.T., LIANG, J., ZHAO, S., DANG, P., GAO, F., DONG, M.X., PRESTON, P.M. & YIN, H. 1997. Observations on the treatment of natural haemosporidian infections by total alkaloid of Peganum harmala L. in cattle. Proceedings of the European Union International Symposium on Ticks and Tickborne Diseases . Tropical Animal Health and Produc tion , 29:4 (supplement), 72 S–76 S LEVCHENKO, F.F. 1978. Comparative study of 3 chemotherapeutic preparations against natural theileriasis in cattle. Trudy Nauchno Issledovatel’skogo Veterinarnogo Instituta Tadzhikskoi SSR , 8:117–119 LEVCHENKO, F.F. 1979. The efficacy of Peganum harmala alkaloids in the treatment of theileriasis in cattle . Trudy Nauch no Issledovatel’skogo Veterinarnogo Instituta Tadzhikskoi SSR , 9:89–92 MCHARDY, N., WEKESA, L.S., HUDSON, A.T. & RANDALL, A.W. 1985. Antitheilerial activity of BW 720 C (buparvaquone): a comparison with parvaquone. Research in Veterinary Sci-ence , 39:29–33 MIRZAIE, M. & SHADDEL, F. 2004. Effect of total alkaloids of Peganum harmala L. on experimentally ovine malignant theileriosis caused by Theileria lestoquardi . Spring meeting and malaria meeting , 4–7 April, 2004, Chester college, Chester, United Kingdom, SP 11 MOREL, C. & UILENBERG, G. 1981. The nomenelature of some Theileria species (Sporozoa,Babesioidea) of domestic ruminants. Revue d Elevage et de Medecine Veterinaire des Pays Tropicaux , 34:139–143 PUZII, A.D. & SEROV, V.M. 1983. Persistence of pegarmin (a preparation of the alkaloids of Peganum harmala ) in the body (of cattle) . Veterinariya, Moscow, USSR , 5:62–64 PUZII, A.D., VECHERKIN, S.S., TOPTAEV, V.I., TSYGANOVA, G.A. & DUISHEEV, N.A. 1982. Tests for teratogenic and em-

[Find the meaning and references behind the names: Peg, Harmel, Iii, Kin, Sec, July, Anum, Noi]

155 M. MIRZAIEDEHAGHI bryotoxic properties of pegarmin (alkaloid of the plant Peg-anum ) and its therapeutic use in cattle infected with Theileria annulataTrudy Vsesoyuznogo Instituta Eksperimental’noi Veterinarii , 56:31–38 PUZII, A.D., VETCHORKIN, S.S., ROMAKHOV, V.G. & VECHER- KIN, S.S. 1979. Application of alkaloids of Peganum harmala for treatment of theileriasis in cattle. XXI World Veterinary Congress , 1–7 July 1979, Moscow. Summaries. Vol. 2, Sec. III: Parasitology: 22 VECHERKIN, S.S., PUZII, A.D., ROMAKHOV, V.G. & TRIBUNSKII, M.P. 1977. The alkaloids of harmel in the treatment of theileriasis Veterinariya Moscow , 10:77–78.