Competitive Exclusion between Piroplasmosis and Anaplasmosis Agents within Cattle

Abstract

There are about 869 species of ticks described so far [1], most of which are responsible for the transmission of a huge diversity of microorganisms belonging to almost all the trees of life (viruses, bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and nematodes) [2–4]. Despite the strong opportunity for interaction between these pathogenic species, little is known about the competitive interactions between tick-borne diseases within the vector and the vertebrate host (see [3] for review).