Babesia ovis infections: Detailed clinical and laboratory observations in the pre- and post-treatment periods of 97 field cases

Ovine babesiosis, caused by Babesia ovis, is of major economic importance in Turkey. The changes in the blood profile of infected animals are informative about the course of infection. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the hematological and biochemical changes in the pre- and post-treatme...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veterinary parasitology 2013-01, Vol.191 (1-2), p.35-43
Main Authors: Sevinc, Ferda, Sevinc, Mutlu, Ekici, Ozlem Derinbay, Yildiz, Ramazan, Isik, Nermin, Aydogdu, Ugur
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
anemia
Anemia - veterinary
Animals
antibodies
antibody detection
Babesia
Babesia ovis
babesiosis
Babesiosis - drug therapy
Babesiosis - pathology
Babesiosis - veterinary
bilirubin
blood
Blood Cell Count
Blood Chemical Analysis
blood platelet count
fluorescein
Hemato-biochemical and serologic observations
imidocarb
Imidocarb - analogs & derivatives
Imidocarb - therapeutic use
Microscopic
microscopy
Ovis
parasitemia
Parasitemia - drug therapy
Parasitemia - pathology
Parasitemia - veterinary
parasites
polymerase chain reaction
Sheep
Sheep Diseases - drug therapy
Sheep Diseases - pathology
Turkey
urea nitrogen
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Summary:Ovine babesiosis, caused by Babesia ovis, is of major economic importance in Turkey. The changes in the blood profile of infected animals are informative about the course of infection. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the hematological and biochemical changes in the pre- and post-treatment periods of the natural B. ovis infections. The presence of the parasites was confirmed by microscopy and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. On the basis of the clinical and laboratory findings, the infections were categorized into different groups according to the degree of anemia and the level of parasitemia. All infected sheep were treated with imidocarb dipropionate (IMDP). The blood pictures in the pre- and post-treatment periods were compared. Pancytopenia occurred in animals with severe anemia and very high parasitemia, and bicytopenia in the other groups. The platelet count (PLT), plateletcrit (PCT) and mean platelet volume (MPV) returned to the normal ranges after treatment, except those in the group with severe anemia. In the biochemical profile, B. ovis infection caused an increase in blood urea nitrogen and total bilirubin, and these parameters returned to normal levels after treatment. The indirect fluorescein antibody test (IFAT) results showed that 38.1% of the cases raised specific antibodies during the period of infection, with titers ranging from 1/160 to 1/640. All of 45 animals re-examined after treatment were seropositive, with high titers that rose up to 1/5120.
ISSN:0304-4017
1873-2550
DOI:10.1016/j.vetpar.2012.07.025