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High Asymptomatic Cases of Babesiosis in Dogs and Comparison of Diagnostic Performance of Conventional PCR vs Blood Smears

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Abstract

Purpose

Babesiosis is one of the most important globally extended and quickly spreading tick-borne infections of dogs. Diagnosis of babesiosis in Sri Lanka is based on clinical signs followed by thin blood smears which could be error-prone due to undetected early infections, absence of clinical signs or low parasitemia. The present study investigated the prevalence of babesiosis in dogs presented to the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, for treatments, vaccinations, and regular check-ups, and compared the diagnosis methods of microscopy and molecular analysis.

Methods

Blood samples from dogs were collected from January to June 2019. First, Giemsa stained blood smears were prepared, and then the blood samples were subjected to PCR using genus-specific primers to amplify a 411–450 bp region in the 18S rRNA gene. Twenty samples from PCR amplified products were sequenced for species identification and phylogenetic analysis. Clinical signs of the dogs were noted down, and ticks were also collected from dogs if any.

Results

Results show a very high prevalence of canine babesiosis (78.6%) among the dogs brought to the VTH. The parasite was identified microscopically and genetically as Babesia gibsoni. A large percentage (66.7%) of infections was asymptomatic. Out of 42 blood samples, 19 (45.2%) were microscopically positive for babesiosis while 33 (78.6%) were PCR positive, showing a significant difference in the two methods of diagnosis (chi-square test, χ2 = 9.462, p = 0.002). Three tick species: Rhipicephalus haemaphysaloides, Haemaphysalis bispinosa, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus were found attached to the dogs.

Conclusion

This study shows a very high prevalence of canine babesiosis among dogs in the Kandy area. Most of these infections might go undetected if only microscopy was used to diagnose. An improved, rapid diagnostic method such as the novel, PCR-based point-of-care diagnostic method that detects very low parasitemia within 30 min is needed. Moreover, as most infected dogs did not show clinical signs, they may act as reservoirs of infection. The ability of asymptomatic dogs to spread babesiosis should be investigated.

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Acknowledgements

Authors wish to acknowledge the academic and non-academic staff at the VTH, at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation [grant number. RG/2019/BT/01] and the National Research Council [Grant no. 20-083], Sri Lanka.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    R. A. S. Ranatunga & S. D. S. S. Sooriyapathirana

  2. Department of Veterinary Clinical Science, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    A. Dangolla

  3. Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka

    R. S. Rajakaruna

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  1. R. A. S. Ranatunga
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  2. A. Dangolla
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Contributions

RASR: Sample collection and analysis, data analysis and writing of the manuscript. AD: sample collection, editing the manuscript; SDDSS: supervision of lab work and editing the manuscript; RSR: study conception and design, supervision, editing the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. S. Rajakaruna.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interests.

Ethical approval

The study protocols received ethical approval from the Ethical Review Committee of the Postgraduate Institute of Science (PGIS), University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

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Verbal informed consent was obtained from the dog owners.

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Verbal informed consent was obtained from the dog owners.

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Ranatunga, R.A.S., Dangolla, A., Sooriyapathirana, S.D.S.S. et al. High Asymptomatic Cases of Babesiosis in Dogs and Comparison of Diagnostic Performance of Conventional PCR vs Blood Smears. Acta Parasit. 67, 1217–1223 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00549-x

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