Cultivation ofBabesiaandBabesia-Like Blood Parasites: Agents of an Emerging Zoonotic Disease

Abstract

Babesia and its close relatives are members of a group of organisms called piroplasms, a name which comes from their pear-shaped outlines. Long associated with blood diseases of cattle and other mammals, members of the genus Babesia have been recognized since the 1950s as infectious agents in humans. Species of this protozoan blood parasite that have routinely been isolated from mice (B. microti) or cattle (B. divergens) have also been isolated from humans. In addition to these familiar species, new isolates that resist being placed in existing taxonomic categories are the basis for rethinking their phylogenetic relationships based on sequencing data. The parasite represents a threat to the safety of the blood supply in that blood from asymptomatic humans can transmit Babesia to blood recipients. Such transmissions have occurred. The development of methods for cultivation of these organisms represents a significant opportunity to study their biology and disease potential. In addition, in vitro cultivation has provided a basis for studying immune responses of mammals to these infectious agents, with the hope of ultimately producing attenuated strains that could be used for immunizing of cattle and, perhaps, humans who live in areas of endemicity. The microaerophilous stationary phase culture technique, which uses a tissue culture medium base supplemented with appropriate serum and erythrocytes, has made it possible to obtain large numbers of parasitized erythrocytes for studying the biology of this parasite

In vitro cultivation of Babesia canis canis parasites isolated from dogs in Poland

“…It ought to be noted that parasites adapted to the environment of EMEM with FBS as early as in the second passage. These observations, similar to the results of studies carried out by Lehtinen et al (2008), seem to contradict the so far common view that the presence of FBS helped inhibit Babesia multiplication in vitro (Schuster 2002).…”

“…Protozoa multiplied in blood cells can be a source of vaccine antigens used in animal immunisation (Schetters et al 2001;Spencer et al 2006;Adaszek et al 2009b). In vitro cultivation method was adapted for many species of (Schuster 2002). Levy and Ristic (1980) carried out pioneering studies in this respect.…”

Identification of new 18S rRNA strains of Babesia canis isolated from dogs with subclinical babesiosis

“…Standard diagnostics for babesiosis in the areas of its enzootic occurrence are based on information from the owners (presence of ticks on the dog), clinical signs and microscopic assessment of blood smears of sick animals, stained according to the Giemza (Casapulla et al 1998, Schuster 2002, Adaszek and Winiarczyk 2008a, Romanowski (Ewing 1963) or Diff-Quick (Suarez et al 2001) methods.…”

Arboprotozoen

“…Babesien können im Versuchstier wie Hamster und Maus durch Inokulation von Blut von Infizierten vermehrt und nachgewiesen werden [106]. In Erythrozyten kann B. divergens als kontinuierliche Kultur und mit hoher Parasitendichte gezüchtet werden [96,107].…”