Canine Babesiosis in China Caused by Babesia gibsoni: A Molecular Approach

Background: to provide a point of reference to study the epidemiology and clinical expression of canine babesiosis in china. methods: a total of 30 dogs infected with canine babesiosis were evaluated by mean of clinical history, physical examination, hematological, restriction fragment length polymorphism of pcr products (pcr-rflp) and sequencing analysis. result: the most prevalent clinical abnormalities were lethargy (100%), anorexia (100%), pale or icteric mucous membranes (80%), fever (70%) and dark urine (70%). hematology parameters revealed that anemia and thrombocytopenia were the major abnormalities in blood of dogs infected with canine babesia. the results of pcr-rflp and sequencing analysis indicated that b. gibsoni was the main species responsible for canine babesiosis cases at the time of the study in nanjing, china. conclusions: the results provide valuable information for better understanding of the epidemiology of canine babesiosis in china.