BACKGROUND Bovine babesiosis is one of the most economically important tick-borne diseases threatening the livestock industry globally including South Africa. This disease is induced by members of Babesia bovis species. Antigenic variations among geographical strains of B. bovis, and these heterogeneities are cited as the mechanism by which parasites evade from host immune system and they hampe...

The 1-deoxy-D-xylulose-5-phosphate synthase (DXS) enzyme has been characterized in other species, but not in the genus Babesia, which causes major losses in the livestock industries worldwide. Therefore, we isolated, cloned and expressed the wild-type B. bovis dxs cDNA in Escherichia coli and evaluated its enzymatic activity in vitro. DNA sequence analysis revealed an open reading frame of 2061...

Babesia bovis (B. bovis) is a major causative agent of bovine babesiosis, with a considerable worldwide impact. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of PCR assay and microscopical examination (ME) for detection of B. bovis in naturally infected and apparently healthy water buffaloes and crossbred cattle under field circumstances from Sharkia province of Egypt. A total 34 a...

This paper reports a case of coinfection caused by pathogens of Lyme disease and babesiosis in brothers. This was the first case of borreliosis in Brazil, acquired in Cotia County, State of S o Paulo, Brazil. Both children had tick bite history, presented erythema migrans, fever, arthralgia, mialgia, and developed positive serology (ELISA and Western-blotting) directed to Borrelia burgdorferi G...

Wildlife are an important component in the vector-host-pathogen triangle of livestock diseases, as they maintain biological vectors that transmit pathogens and can serve as reservoirs for such infectious pathogens. Babesia bovis is a tick-borne pathogen, vectored by cattle fever ticks, Rhipicephalus spp., that can cause up to 90% mortality in naive adult cattle. While cattle are the primary hos...

Babesia bovis merozoites are exposed to antibodies during the extraerythrocytic phase, and surface polypeptides bearing exposed epitopes are possible immunogens. Monoclonal antibodies reactive with the merozoite surface bind either immunodominant epitopes expressed diffusely on the merozoite surface or, alternatively, epitopes expressed in a polar pattern. Epitopes expressed diffusely on the im...