Canine babesiosis

Abstract

Babesiosis continues to pose a threat to dogs worldwide as a cause of anemia, thrombocytopenia, and a wide variety of clinical signs, ranging from mild, nonspecific illness to peracute collapse and death. Practitioners should be alert to the importance of collecting travel and fight history for a patient and should be aware of new piroplasm species that have been described. Asymptomatic infections necessitate careful screening of potential blood donors using a combination of diagnostic testing procedures. Current treatment strategies for babesiosis often ameliorate the clinical signs of infection, but these hemoparasites are seldom completely eliminated, and when immunocompromised, recrudescence may occur.