As cases of a deadly cattle disease rise in Arkansas, researchers with the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station are testing two treatments they hope will help ranchers protect their herds.
The disease is bovine theileriosis and is caused by the parasite Theileria orientalis Ikeda, carried primarily by the invasive Asian longhorned tick. Arkansas cases of the disease increased drastically in 2025, just a year after being confirmed in the state, said Emily McDermott, an assistant professor in the department of entomology and plant pathology for the experiment station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.
No approved drugs or vaccines to treat or prevent the pathogen are currently available in the United States, but research on the two methods to control it is now underway at the experiment station thanks to a two-year, $492,218 grant from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture…