- are obligate, intracellular parasites belonging to the phylum of apicomplexa. Two Theileria species, T. parva, and T. annulata are bovine-specific
- International movement of animals infected with the tick-transmitted blood parasites Theileria, Babesia, and Anaplasma spp and Ehrlichia(Cowdria) ruminantium is widely restricted.
Life cycle
- Sporozoites from the tick secrete into the feeding site of the animal. Sporozoites enter lymphoblasts to form a schizont. There is a clonal expansion of schizonts and then multiply by merging to form merozoites. The merozoites go into erythrocytes and invade the cells and are now in the piroplasm stage.
