ABSTRACT. An epidemiological study of Babesia canis in dogs in Nigeria was performed. Four hundred blood samples collected from dogs in Nigeria were investigated using nested PCR and sequence analysis. On nested PCR screening, nine samples (2.3%) produced a band corresponding to a 698-bp fragment indicative of B. canis infection. Sequence analysis of the PCR products identified eight samples (2.0%) as B. canis rossi and the ninth (0.3%) as B. canis vogeli. This is the first report of the prevalence of B. canis rossi and B. canis vogeli in dogs in Nigeria.

This study therefore confirms for the first time that chronic administration of M. oleifera leaves might predispose to hepatic and kidney damage.

This report describes a case of craniothoracopagus (moncephalus thoracopagus tetrabrachius) twin puppies in Ibadan, Nigeria. The conjoined twins were given birth to by a 7-year-old bitch that was usually allowed to stray away from home in search of food. Deformities of the cardiovascular, digestive musculoskeletal, respiratory and urinary systems are reported. This is probably the first report of craniothoracopagus twinning in a dog.

The hematological and biochemical parameters of the young (4-8 week old) and adult (52-80 week-old) New Zealand rabbit were determined. The young rabbit had significantly higher plasma concentrations of creatinine (P<0.01), alkaline phosphatase (P<0.05), alanine aminootransaminase (P<0.02) and total protein (P<0.02) and mean corpuscular haemoglobin (P<0.001). However, the red blood cell counts, white blood cell counts, haemoglobin concentration, packed cell volume, mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and the plasma levels of sodium, potassium, chloride, bicarbonate, urea, albumin, albumin/globulin ratio and aspartate aminotranferase were similar in the young and adult rabbit. (Afr. J. Biomed. Res.

ABSTRACT. The prevalence of Hepatozoon canis infections in dogs in Nigeria was surveyed using molecular methods. DNA was extracted from blood samples obtained from 400 dogs. A primer set that amplified the Babesia canis 18S rRNA gene, which has high similarity to the H. canis 18S rRNA gene, was used for the PCR. As a result, samples from 81 dogs (20.3%) produced 757 bp bands, which differed from the 698 bp band that corresponded to B. canis infection. The sequence of the PCR products of 10 samples were determined, all of which corresponded with the H. canis sequence.