tick borne haemoparasites and haemorickettsiales pose a major health risk to animals worldwide. the present study reports the development and validation of multiplex PCr to simultaneously detect the most prevalent tick borne pathogens infecting dogs in kerala, South India. the assay targeting the small subunit ribosomal rNa genes of the organisms could amplify well demarcated amplicons of B. canis vogeli, B. gibsoni and E. canis. In the study population, which included both healthy dogs as well as those with clinical symptoms suggestive of the three infections under study, 46.6% animals were infected with one of the three pathogens, amongst which the occurrence of B. gibsoni was significantly the highest. Natural co-infections were also detected in nine dogs, which suggests the suitability of the assay to assist in the selection of pathogen specific treatment protocols.

Aim:Canine babesiosis is an important vector-borne hemoparasitic disease caused by Babesia canis vogeli and Babesia gibsoni, in India. The communication places on record the salient findings of the study directed to detect and characterize the pathogenic B. gibsoni isolates of Kerala state.Materials and Methods::A total of 150 dogs were examined for the presence of hemoparasites by light microscopy as well as by PCR targeting the 18S rRNA gene of B. gibsoni. Hematological parameters were also analysed. Phylogenetic tree was constructed based on Tamura kei model adopting ML method.Results::A sensitive and specific polymerase chain reaction assay was developed with newly designed primer pair BAGI-F/BAGI-R for the amplification of 488 bp fragment of 18S rRNA gene of B. gibsoni. Out of the 150 dogs examined, molecular evidence of B. gibsoni was recorded in 47.3% animals, while light microscopy detected the infection in 26.67% cases. The phylogenetic analyses revealed that B. gibsoni, Kerala, isolate was closest and occurred together with Bareilly isolate. Anemia and thrombocytopenia were the significant hematological alterations in chronic B. gibsoni infection.Conclusion::A high prevalence of natural infection of B. gibsoni was detected among the study population. The affected animals showed anaemia and thrombocytopenia. Phylogenetic analysis of this pathogenic isolate from south India revealed the closest similarity with Bareilly isolates.

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Two male and two female emu birds of 8 months to 1 year old reared in a private farm were brought dead to College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Pookode for postmortem examination during the period from July to September, 2010. The birds were emaciated and drooling of blood from the mouth was observed for 2 days prior to death. Postmortem examination of the dead birds revealed occurrence of large numbers of red coloured worms throughout trachea with histopathological changes. The worms were identified as Syngamus trachea based on morphology. Economic losses due to this parasitism are also described.

Gastro-intestinal strongylosis is a major parasitic infection in caprine causing reduced performance, irreversible damage and death, which eventually leads to huge economic loss to the producers. The use of anthelmintics as a simple, effective and quick control method against the parasitism by the farmers has been rampant since decades. But its indiscriminate and undue usage invariably paved way to the development of anthelmintic resistance in parasites. It is high time that control strategies are designed so as to utilise chemotherapy appropriately at the time that coincide with heavy incidence of strongylosis. In the present study, a total of 109 goats, comprising of 58 Malabari and 51 Attappady Black goats from an organised farm were screened for the incidence for strongyle infection. The infection was found to be very high throughout the monsoon seasons in Kerala (June to October) with 94.86 ±1.47 per cent. Majority of the animals exhibited very heavy infection with faecal egg count of (FEC) >1500 during the study period. On coproculture, Haemonchus contortus was found to be the most predominant strongyle followed by Oesophagostomum spp. and Trichostrongylus spp.