Babesia infection in cattle and dogs in Suizhou City, Hubei Province, China.

BACKGROUND

Babesiosis is a zoonotic disease caused by the intraerythrocytic parasite Babesia, which poses a serious threat to public health. Currently, the prevalence of babesiosis in domestic animals and the genetic diversity of Babesia in Central China have not been comprehensively studied.

METHODS

In this study, we collected 1093 ticks, including 95.24% (1041/1093) Haemaphysalis longicornis, 4.67% (51/1093) Rhipicephalus microplus, and 0.09% (1/1093) Ixodes sinensis. Blood samples from 216 goats, 56 cattle, and 25 dogs were collected from Suizhou City, Hubei Province, China, and animal blood DNA was extracted for the detection of Babesia with PCR.

RESULTS

PCR results showed that 50.00% (28/56) of cattle and 32.00% (8/25) of dogs were Babesia-positive, including for Babesia bovis 3.57% (2/56), B. bigemina 3.57% (2/56), and B. ovata 42.86% (24/56) in cattle and B. gibsoni 32.00% (8/25) in dogs. All goats (216) and ticks (1093) were Babesia-negative.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings showed that Babesia infections are prevalent in cattle and dogs in Central China, indicating that babesiosis should be monitored in animals and humans in Central China.