Molecular identification of Babesia spp. in naturally infected dogs of Kerala, South India

Abstract

Canine babesiosis is a tick borne haemoprotozoan disease caused by large and small intraerythrocytic apicomplexan piroplasms of the genus spp. The clinical manifestations of the disease vary from inapparent subclinical form to hyperacute shock related haemolytic crisis. Microscopic examination of blood smears from suspected dogs revealed and in 3.45 and 25.86 % of samples respectively. A seminested PCR based on previously published species specific primers targeting the 18S rRNA gene was utilized to identify the species infecting dogs of Kerala at the sub species level. The study revealed 57.5 % prevalence of spp. among dogs. This report also presents the first molecular evidence of and among naturally infected dogs in Kerala, South India. Molecular survey revealed a high prevalence of infections when compared with infections among canines of the state. Preliminary survey of the tick population revealed the presence of, and in infected animals. Further studies need be directed towards utilizing the PCR protocol for confirming the vectors of these species in the region.

High prevalence of small Babesia species in canines of Kerala, South India

“…The reports of the incidence of B . gibsoni among dogs in the state were based on the results of conventional microscopy until [ 24 ] provided molecular evidence of B. gibsoni in dogs in Thrissur following the protocol of Birkenheuer et al . [ 25 ] utilizing semi-nested PCR targeting the 18S rRNA gene.…”

Detection of Babesia canis vogeli, Babesia gibsoni and Ehrlichia canis by multiplex PCR in naturally infected dogs in South India

“…among the three subspecies of Babesia canis viz., B. canis canis, B. canis vogeli and B. canis rossi, (UILeNBerG et al, 1989), only B. canis vogeli has been reported to infect dogs in kerala state (aUGUStINe et al, 2017). among the different Babesia spp., the latter also recorded a higher proportion of B. gibsoni among the study population.…”

Molecular detection of Hepatozoon canis in dogs from Kerala

“…The reason for the low prevalence could be attributed to the lower sensitivity by light microscopy which can detect approximately 0.001 per cent parasitaemia (Matsuu et al 2005), though blood smear examination has been the simplest, reasonably sensitive test during acute and clinically significant infections. Though, Babesia gibsoni was the most prevalent canine haemoparasite in Kerala since a few years (Augustine et al 2017;Jain et al 2017), the occurrence of H. canis deserves attention on account of its pathogenicity in natural hosts (Baneth et al 2003). The disease was reported in the state after a long gap of more than a decade.…”

“…The brown dog tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus is widely prevalent among dogs of Kerala, the south Indian state with warm humid tropical climate and there is a high occurrence of this tick transmitted Babesia and Ehrlichia spp. infection (Augustine et al 2017;Jain et al 2018). However, the incidence of Hepatozoon canis transmitted by the same tick species is rare in Kerala and there exists only a few case reports of this infection in dogs detected by morphological study of stained blood smears (Devada et al 1996;Smitha et al 2003;Priya et al 2004).…”