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. 2004 Jan;42(1):99-105.
doi: 10.1128/JCM.42.1.99-105.2004.

Infection with a proposed new subspecies of Babesia canis, Babesia canis subsp. presentii, in domestic cats

Gad Baneth  1 , Martin J Kenny, Séverine Tasker, Yigal Anug, Varda Shkap, Amos Levy, Susan E Shaw
Affiliations

Infection with a proposed new subspecies of Babesia canis, Babesia canis subsp. presentii, in domestic cats

Gad Baneth et al. J Clin Microbiol. 2004 Jan.

Abstract

Parasitemia with a large Babesia species was identified in two domestic cats from Israel. One cat, also coinfected with feline immunodeficiency virus and "Candidatus Mycoplasma haemominutum," had profound icterus and anemia which resolved after therapy, whereas a second cat was an asymptomatic carrier. Amplification and sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene, followed by phylogenetic analyses, indicated that infection was caused by Babesia canis. However, the sequences of the internal transcribed and 5.8S rRNA regions of the ribosomal operon used for subspeciation of B. canis were markedly different from the recognized subspecies of B. canis, which include B. canis vogeli, B. canis canis, and B. canis rossi. Based on phylogenetic comparisons of the 18S rRNA gene, 5.8S, and internal transcribed spacer sequences of the isolates from the cats and on the smaller sizes of the merozoite and trophozoite stages of this parasite, which distinguish it from the subspecies of B. canis present in dogs, we propose to identify the novel feline genotype of B. canis described in the present study as a new subspecies, B. canis subsp. presentii.

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Figures

FIG. 1.
FIG. 1.
Trophozoites of B. canis in feline blood (arrows). Bar, 10 μm.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
Pair of merozoites of B. canis in a feline erythrocyte. Bar, 10 μm.
FIG. 3.
FIG. 3.
Phylogeny of 18S gene of the feline Babesia isolate and related species. The phylogenetic tree was constructed by using the neighbor-joining program from a distance matrix corrected for nucleotide substitutions by the Kimura two-parameter model. Theileria parva was included as an outgroup. Evolutionary distances are to the scale shown. Bootstrap percentage values are given to the right of the tree nodes. GenBank accession numbers are shown.
FIG. 4.
FIG. 4.
Phylogeny of the ITS region of the feline Babesia isolate and related species. The phylogenetic tree was constructed by using the neighbor-joining program from a distance matrix corrected for nucleotide substitutions by the Kimura two-parameter model. T. parva was included as an outgroup. Evolutionary distances are to the scale shown. Bootstrap percentage values are given to the right of the tree nodes. GenBank accession numbers are shown.
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