As healthy carriers of the infection, these animals play an important role in maintenance of the infection in ticks. Because they cannot be dipped like cattle, these animals also serve as hosts on which ticks feed. The disease has traditionally been controlled by the use of chemical acaricides to prevent and control transmission. Only one vaccine is commercially available against heartwater, a live vaccine produced from blood of sheep infected with the virulent Ball 3 stock of Cowdria. It has not been widely adopted because it requires a strict cold chain and can result in severe clinical reactions.
Current research focuses on the development of safer and more effective inactivated vaccines.
Oxytetracycline treatment is normally successful if administered early and is also used in a prophylactic manner during the peak of Amblyomma spp. This method, although not recommended by veterinarians, is widely used by commercial farmers in South Africa and by traditional farmers when they have to transport their cattle to endemic areas. Hope information provided will help. Copyright 2001, Janice Limson.