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              Research
              
                            
              
                  1.     
                              
                              Evaluation of the acridine orange fluorescence 
                              technique and the indirect fluorescent antibody as 
                              diagnostic tests for tropical theileriosis - 
                              O. H. Omer, O.M. Mahmoud, A.A. Al-Sadrani
                              Vet World. 2011; 4(8): 341-344
               
              
              
              doi: 10.5455/vetworld.2011.341-344
              
              
               
              
              
              
   
 
              
               
               
               
              
              
              Abstract
              
                              
                              
                              This study was carried out to evaluate the use of 
                              acridine orange fluorescence technique on blood 
                              slides as a rapid diagnostic test for tropical 
                              theileriosis in comparison with the Giemsa-stained 
                              thin blood film technique. Also the indirect 
                              fluorescent antibody test has been employed for 
                              the serodiagnosis of tropical theileriosis. The 
                              study was carried out on 62 young and 48 adult 
                              Friesian cattle suffering from clinical tropical 
                              theileriosis in Qassim Region, Central Saudi 
                              Arabia, during the period from August 2006 to July 
                              2008. For control, blood samples were also 
                              obtained from 25 young and 25 adult, clinically 
                              healthy, Friesian cattle, selected at random from 
                              different dairy farms in Qassim Region. Thin blood 
                              films were fixed with methanol and stained with 
                              Giemsa and acridine orange and were examined by 
                              two independent microbiologists. There was 100% 
                              correlation in the interpretation of slides 
                              stained with Giemsa and acridine orange both with 
                              respect to positivity and negativity, between the 
                              two microbiologists. It is concluded that if 
                              facilities are available acridine orange is a 
                              valuable alternative for screening tropical 
                              theileriosis. The method may also have potential 
                              value in the diagnosis of Theileria parva, which 
                              causes East Coast fever, and also other Theileria 
                              species. Results of the present study also showed 
                              that IFA test was not found sufficiently sensitive 
                              and specific as has been reported earlier. 
              
              
                              
              
                              Keywords: Theileria annulata; Cattle-protozoa; 
                              Diagnosis; Acridine orange; IFA.