Changes in blood count in rabbits artificially infected with intestinal coccidia

Abstract

Coccidiosis is the most frequent parasitic disease in rabbits. Considering the importance of the problem, there have not been reports on the influence of coccidiosis on haematopoiesis and particularly on the white cell lineage. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of intestinal coccidia on the white cell count and the differential of the infected rabbits. Two groups of rabbits were infected with various doses of intestinal coccidia oocysts. The first group (A) was infected with 2x1 05, and the second (B) wth 4x1 05 of spo-rulated oocysts. The infective material contained oocysts of the following intestinal coccidia: Eimeria flavescens (7%), Eimeria matsubayashii (9%), Eimeria magna (12%), Eimeria neoleporis (1 9%), Eimeria perforans (21 %) and Eimeria media (32%). The infective mix was dominated by moderately pathogenic species causing a mild form of intestinal coccidiosis in the rabbits. Shortly before the infection, on days 4, 7 and 10 after the inoculation of the infective material, the rabbits were bled and white cell count, blood smears and differential blood cell count were done. We found that in this form of intestinal cocodiosis. the number of white cells was slightly lowered, whereas the number of neutrophte. basophils and monocytes was increased. The number of monocytes was elevated only on day 10. Lym phocyte count was decreased whereas the number of eosinophils remained unchanged despite the fact that coccidiosis is a parasitic disease.

Kokcidioza je najčešća i najzastupljenija parazitska bolest kod kunića Srazmerno značaju nema podataka o uticaju kokcidioze na hematopezu, a posebno na belu krvnu lozu. Cilj rada je bio da se ispita uticaj crevnih kokcidija na promenu broja leukocita i diferencijalnu krvnu sliku kunića. Dve grupe kunića su inficirane različitim dozama oocista crevnih kokcidija. Prva grupa kunića (A) inficiranaje sa 2x105, a kunići druge grupe (B) inficirani su sa 4x105 sporulisanih oocista. U infektivnoj smesi bile su oociste navedenih crevnih kokcidija: Eimeria flavescens (7%), Eimeria matsubayashii (9%), Eimeria magna (12%), Eimeria neolepohs (19%), Eimeria perforans (21%) i Eimeria media (32%). U ovoj infektivnoj smesi dominirale su srednje patogene vrste crevnih kokcidija, pa su kunići oboleli od blagog oblika crevne kokcidioze. Neposredno pre infekcije, četvrtog, sedmog i desetog dana posle inokulacije infektivnog materijala, kunićima obe grupe je vađena krv određivan broj leukocita, pravljeni su krvni razmazi i posmatrana diferencijalna krvna slika. Ustanovljeno je da se u ovakvom obliku crevne kokcidioze neznatno smanjuje broj leukocita, dok raste broj neutrofilnih i bazofilnih granulocita i monocita. Broj monocita je povećan tek desetog dana. Broj limfocita je bio smanjen, a broj eozinofilnih granulocita se nije menjao i pored toga što je kokcidioza parazitska botest.