Canine babesiosis : tick-borne diseases

J.P Schoeman

doi:10.4102/ojvr.v76i1.66

Abstract

Babesiosis is a tick-borne disease affecting humans and many domestic and wild animals. Domestic animals showing appreciable morbidity and mortality include dogs, cats, cattle and horses. Both canine and feline babesiosis are diseases characterised by haemolytic anaemia, icterus and haemoglobinuria. Canine babesiosis can range from chronic or subclinical to peracute and fatal, depending on the virulence of the species and the susceptibility of the host. This paper deals with canine babesiosis with specific reference to pathogenesis, clinical findings, complications, diagnosis and treatment, as well as newly identified prognostic factors in Babesia rossi babesiosis.

Highlights

Babesiosis is a disease of worldwide significance and was first recognised in 1888 as a cause of fever, haemolytic anaemia, haemoglobinuria and death of cattle
Babesia vogeli is the least pathogenic. It occurs in France, Australia, Japan, Brazil, South Africa and the USA and usually causes mild disease in adult dogs, but severe disease in some puppies (Matjila, Penzhorn, Bekker, Nijhof & Jongejan 2004)
Various species of ticks such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Dermacentor spp. and Haemaphysalis ellipticum can transmit the large babesia of dogs, whereas B. gibsoni is transmitted by Haemaphysalis bispinosa and Haemaphysalis longicornis

Summary

Endemic in the west

Endemic, spreading northwards (detected in 29 states) Endemic Endemic Three Pitbull Terriers Endemic Two dogs (no PCR confirmation) One case (no PCR confirmation). Endemic endemic in dogs in northwest Spain (Camacho, Pallas, Gestal, Guitan, Olmeda, Telford & Spielman 2003). Most recently another small piroplasm causing a disease dubbed ‘bloody ears’ has been identified in Brazil (Loretti & Barros 2005). Various species of ticks such as Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Dermacentor spp. and Haemaphysalis ellipticum can transmit the large babesia of dogs, whereas B. gibsoni is transmitted by Haemaphysalis bispinosa and Haemaphysalis longicornis. Babesia annae is thought to be transmitted by Ixodes hexagonus (Lobetti 2006). Both trans-stadial and transovarial transmission can occur and ticks are believed to remain infective for several generations. Strong circumstantial evidence exist that B. gibsoni is transmitted by dog bites (Birkenheuer, Correa, Levy & Breitschwerdt 2005), whilst transplacental transmission from dam to offspring has recently been proven as an additional mode of transmission (Fukumoto, Suzuki, Igarashi & Xuan 2005)

PATHOGENESIS AND CLINICAL SIGNS

Findings

One dose