First molecular report of Babesia gibsoni infection in pet dogs in Hunan province, subtropical China

@#Canine babesiosis caused by Babesia spp. is a noteworthy tick-borne zoonotic disease of domestic dogs and wild canids. In present study, a total of 556 blood samples were randomly collected from pet dogs in eight cities of Hunan province, subtropical China. Genomic DNA was extracted and Babesia DNA was detected by amplification of partial 18S rRNA gene sequences. A total of 56 (10.1%) blood samples were tested positive for Babesia species. Sequence analysis showed that 29 dogs (5.2%) were positive for B. gibsoni, and other 27 dogs for B. vogeli (4.9%). The age and health status were considered as important risk factors for B. gibsoni and B. vogeli infections in pet dogs in this study (P<0.05). Phylogenetic analysis showed that the examined positive samples were highly clustered in the same branch with B. gibsoni and B. vogeli, respectively. This is the first molecular report of B. gibsoni infection in pet dogs in Hunan province, subtropical China. Our finding has provided a guide for the control of dog babesiosis in China and elsewhere.

Novel Granulocytic Colony Stimulating Factor-based Therapy for Morbidity Reduction in Pancytopenic Dogs with Babesia gibsoni

ector borne pancytopenia is emerging as a life threatening entity in animals. In India babesiosis is one among the most prevalent tick-borne parasitic diseases of dogs caused by either Babesia gibsoni or Babesia canis. Bleeding due to thrombocytopenia and the concurrent anaemia and leukopenia were difficult to manage. This study assessed the efficacy of Filgrastim in pancytopenia associated with Babesia gibsoni in dogs presented to the Small Animal Medicine Referral Clinic, Madras Veterinary College. The therapeutic practices included Injection Filgrastim @ 10 µg/kg, SC, SID in combination with the standard triple therapy to manage the pancytopenia and the infection. Twenty numbers of PCR positive Babesia gibsoni dogs were used for this study. The animals were divided in to two groups based on therapeutic practices. First group consisted of dogs treated with triple therapy and the second group consisted of dogs treated and evaluated with Filgrastim along with triple therapy. The study showed that there was a significant increase in leukocyte count in Filgrastim treated group when compared to the other group. Integration of G-CSF along with standard triple therapy helped in better survival in pancytopenic dogs with Babesia gibsoni

New Molecules in Babesia gibsoni and Their Application for Diagnosis, Vaccine Development, and Drug Discovery

Babesia gibsoni is an intraerythrocytic apicomplexan parasite that causes piroplasmosis in dogs. B. gibsoni infection is characterized clinically by fever, regenerative anemia, splenomegaly, and sometimes death. Since no vaccine is available, rapid and accurate diagnosis and prompt treatment of infected animals are required to control this disease. Over the past decade, several candidate molecules have been identified using biomolecular techniques in the authors' laboratory for the development of a serodiagnostic method, vaccine, and drug for B. gibsoni. This review article describes newly identified candidate molecules and their applications for diagnosis, vaccine production, and drug development of B. gibsoni.

Suppressive effect of culture supernatant of erythrocytes and serum from dogs infected with Babesia gibsoni on the morphological maturation of canine reticulocytes in vitro

The present study evaluated the effects of infected culture supernatant of erythrocytes, fractionation of culture supernatant and serum from dogs infected with Babesia gibsoni (B. gibsoni) on the maturation of canine reticulocytes in vitro. The SDS-PAGE demonstrated that significantly broader bands were generated by both the infected culture supernatant of erythrocytes and the serum from dogs chronically infected with B. gibsoni. The culture supernatant of erythrocytes infected with B. gibsoni strongly suppressed the maturation of reticulocytes. Prior studies showed that chronically infected serum had inhibitory effects on both the maturation of reticulocytes and the canine pyrimidine 5'-nucleotidase subclass I and purine-specific 5'-nucleotidase activity. In addition, serum free infected culture supernatant of erythrocytes had an inhibitory effect on the morphological maturation of reticulocytes. These results suggest that infected serum and culture supernatant of erythrocytes might accumulate excess proteins and/or metabolites as a result of the inhibited maturation of reticulocytes and decreased activity of erythrocyte 5'-nucleotidase. Furthermore, the fractions observed at >150 kDa- and 150-70 kDa- in the infected culture supernatant and serum retarded the maturation of canine reticulocytes in vitro. The results obtained from the in vitro examinations, in the present study, suggested that B. gibsoni itself and/or its metabolites might release certain proteins in the infected culture supernatant and serum from infected dogs and as a result delay morphological maturation of canine reticulocytes.

The Establishment of ELISA Method for Detecting Babesia gibsoni by Recombinant Antigen BgAMA-1 / 中国寄生虫学与寄生虫病杂志

In order to improve diagnostic method to Babesia gibsoni infection,gene recombination technique was used in our study.By this technique,we constructed and expressed recombinant apical membrane antigen-1(BgAMA-1),and recombinant BgAMA-1 was used in ELISA experiment as diagnostic antigen.The results showed the recombinant expressed plasmid was triumphantly constructed and the recombinant antigen BgAMA-1 had a high specificity in ELISA test.These results demonstrate that the recombinant BgAMA-1 might be a useful diagnostic reagent for detection of antibodies to B.gibsoni in dogs.