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East Coast fever parasite in white blood cell of cow
East Coast fever, a disease that has a severe effect on cattle in East Africa, results from a parasite (Theileria parva) entering the cow's white blood cells and causing the host cell to start dividing. The parasite then proliferates as the host cell proliferates. In these images we see sections through a host cell, some stained to show the structure of the cell in red, the DNA in blue and the parasite in green/yellow. This cell is in the final stages of division. During division a spindle-shaped structure of tiny tubules forms to guide the chromosomes towards the newly forming nuclei. The parasite has attached itself to the poles of the spindle and stretches as the spindle elongates, which ensures that it passes into both new host cells. It will only divide in two at the moment the new cells separate.
Mark Carrington.
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