Trypanosoma theileri in direct tissue cultures prepared from naturally infected cattle

Trypanosoma theileri was identified in 44 of 125 (35.2%) buffy coat cultures prepared from peripheral blood samples collected from 11 Holstein heifers. Nine of these animals had received steroid treatment, but trypanosomes were also recovered from two untreated controls. When direct tissue cultures were prepared from tissues collected from eight of these naturally infected heifers, T. theileri appeared in cultures from seven of them. This suggests that T. theileri can survive the procedures employed during direct tissue culture preparation.