Molecular and serological detection of Babesia bovis- and Babesia bigemina-infection in bovines and water buffaloes raised jointly in an endemic field.

ROMERO-SALAS,D.; MIRA, A; MOSQUEDA, J.J.; GARCIA-VAZQUEZ, Z.; HIDALGO-RUIZ, M.; VELA, N.A.; DE LEON, A.A.; JACOBSEN DE FLORIN-CHRISTENSEN, M; SCHNITTGER, L

VETERINARY PARASITOLOGY

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2016 vol. 217 p. 101 - 107

0304-4017

Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina are causative agents of bovine babesiosis, a tick-borne disease of cattle in tropical and subtropical regions. Babesia spp. infection adversely affects cattle health and can be fatal resulting in considerable economic loss worldwide. Under endemic stability conditions, herds contain high numbers of chronically infected, asymptomatic carrier animals, in which no parasitemia is detected by microscopic blood smear examination. In addition to bovines, also water buffaloes are infected by both Babesia spp. commonly leading to a subclinical infection. The infection rate (by nPCR) and herd exposure (by IFAT) of bovines and water buffaloes reared under similar field conditions in an area of endemic stability were determined and compared. In order to optimize direct parasite detection, highly sensitive nPCR assays were developed and applied, allowing the detection of as little as 0.1 fg DNA of each Babesia pathogen. Significantly lower percentages (p