Vol. 10, Special Issue 11 (2021)

Author(s):
Deepa CK, Anju Varghese, Ajith Kumar KG, Dinesh CN, Sanis Juliet, Preena P, Radhika R, Angeline FB, Nandini A, Malangmei L and Reghu Ravindran

Abstract:
The haemoprotozoan parasite, Babesia gibsoni, a small intra-erythrocytic apicomplexan parasite is responsible for causing canine babesiosis, which is manifested as hyperacute, acute or chronic infections with clinical symptoms that vary from sub-clinical infection to extensive organ failure and death. The present study was conducted to compare the relative effectiveness of two Polymerase chain reactions (PCR) targeting18SrRNA and BgSA1 genes to detect the presence of B. gibsoni in dogs. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay targeting 18S ribosomal RNA gene fragment revealed Babesia genus specific ~1665 bp fragment amplified in 15 out of 50 samples. Similarly, the polymerase chain reaction for the amplification of B. gibsoni specific secreted antigen 1(BgSA1), revealed the ~1500 bp amplicon in eight samples. The comparison of results of PCRs based on McNemar’s Test, revealed that the relative effectiveness of PCR targeting BgSA1 and Bg18S rRNA genes were almost similar.