Protective immune mechanisms against Theileria parva: Evolution of vaccinedevelopment strategies

Theileria parva is an intracellular sporozoan parasite that infects and tra nsforms bovine lymphocytes, causing a severe lymphoproliferative disease kn own as East Coast fever in eastern, central and southern Africa. In this ar ticle, Declan McKeever and colleagues summarize the current under standing of immune mechanisms provoked by the parasite with regard to their role in both pathogenesis and protection. In particular, the influence of genomic p olymorphism in parasite and host on the development of immunity is discusse d, along with the evolution of current vaccine development strategies as a result of immunological research on the disease.