Molecular Detection of Babesia bigemina and Babesia bovis in Crossbred Carrier Cattle Through PCR

Bovine babesiosis and other tick borne diseases are considered responsible for more than 50% losses in the crossbred cattle. Carrier cattle infected with babesiosis are challenge to current diagnostic methods and are difficult to detect because of the low number of parasites in circulation. However, diagnosis of carrier animals in herd is important for preventing outbreaks by transmission through vector ticks to healthy animals and for obtaining epidemiological data of disease. Here, we report molecular detection of Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina in cross bred carrier cattle. For this study, 100 blood samples were randomly collected and analyzed using light microscopy and small subunit ribosomal RNA gene based PCR. Screening by LM showed that 18% of samples were positive. PCR analysis of samples diagnosed 29% positive, out of which 11% were positive for B. bovis and 18% for B. bigemina. Hence, 11% of the animals apparently healthy through routine LM diagnosis were carriers posing threat for the healthy herd population.