Adequate knowledge of the genetic diversity among Babesia species infecting dogs is necessary for a better understanding of the epidemiology and control of canine babesiosis. Hence, this study determined the genetic diversity among the Babesia rossi detected in dogs presented for routine examination in Veterinary Hospitals in Abeokuta, Nigeria. Blood were randomly collected from 209 dogs. Field-stained thin smears were made and DNA extracted from the blood. Partial region of the 18S small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was amplified, sequenced and analysed. Babesia species was detected in 16 (7.7%) of the dogs by microscopy. Electrophoresed PCR products from 39 (18.66%) dogs revealed band size of 450 bp and 2 (0.95%) dogs had band size of 430 bp. The sequences obtained from 450 bp amplicon displayed homology of 99.74% (387/388) with partial sequences of 18S rRNA gene of Babesia rossi in the GeneBank. Of the two sequences that had 430 bp amplicon, one was identified as T. annulata and second as T. ovis. A significantly (p<0.05) higher prevalence of B. rossi was detected by PCR compared to microscopy. The mean PCV of Babesia infected dogs was significantly (p<0.05) lower than non-infected dogs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed minimal diversity among B. rossi with the exception of one sequence that was greatly divergent from the others. This study suggests that more than one genotype of B. rossi may be in circulation among the dog population in the study area and this may have potential implication on clinical outcome of canine babesiosis.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 July 2019.
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