TitleBabesia gibsoni genotype Asia in dogs from Brazil.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2006
AuthorsTrapp, SM, Messick, JB, Vidotto, O, Jojima, FS, de Morais, HAutran
JournalVet Parasitol
Volume141
Issue1-2
Pagination177-80
Date Published2006 Oct 10
ISSN0304-4017
KeywordsAnimals, Babesia, Babesiosis, Base Sequence, Brazil, DNA, Protozoan, Dog Diseases, Dogs, Genotype, Molecular Sequence Data, Phylogeny, RNA, Ribosomal, 18S, Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
Abstract

Babesia gibsoni was first recognized in India in 1910. Analysis of 18S rRNA has shown that there are at least three distinct isolates that are morphologically identical. Although organisms similar to B. gibsoni have been identified in peripheral blood smears from one dog in Brazil, this isolate has not been molecularly characterized. Accordingly, we obtained blood samples from 16 dogs with intraerythrocytic inclusion bodies. DNA was extracted and amplified with primers that detect a segment of the 18S rRNA gene of the Babesia genus. Amplicons of the expected size for B. gibsoni were observed in 4 of the 16 dogs. The sequence of the 18S rRNA yield a 460 base pair segment that had a 99% homology with the B. gibsoni genotype Asia 1. Our findings suggest that the small piroplasm that naturally infects dogs in Brazil is B. gibsoni genotype Asia.
DOI10.1016/j.vetpar.2006.04.036
Alternate JournalVet Parasitol
PubMed ID16765518