Detection of Babesia canis in the blood samples of dogs in Iran by PCR method

Abstract

Babesiosis is a tick-transmitted disease that made happen by haemoprotozean parasites of the genus Babesia and an important tick-disease of dogs and in many species of mammals, which reason light fever, progressive anemia, hemoglobinuria and noticeable splenomegaly and hepatomegaly in dogs and maybe happen death in this cases around the world. The aimed of the current study was to find the presence of the dogs Babesia canis in blood samples species in Iran by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In this study, a total of 120 blood samples were collected from the saphenous vein into tubes that contained EDTA of Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari provinces (west of Iran) between January and June 2012. DNA was extracted and PCR were applied for Babesia canis then PCR products were screened. The presence of Babesia canis DNA were detected by PCR from 9 (7.5%) out of 120 dogs. In this comparative study found that the highest infection rate in young dogs less than two years. The results showed a low-frequency of Babesia canis infection in dogs in the Chaharmahal Va Bakhtiari provinces (west of Iran), Iran and shows the first molecular detection of B. canis in dogs from Iran and the diagnostic usefulness of PCR method.