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Journal of Parasitic Diseases: December 2006, Vol. 30, No. 2, 142–145J P DPolymerase chain reaction <strong>for</strong> the diagnosis of bovinebabesiosisR. Ravindran, A. K. Mishra and J. R. RaoDivision of <strong>Parasitology</strong>, <strong>Indian</strong> Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar.ABSTRACT. Babesiosis, caused by Babesia bigemina, continues to be one of the important tick-bornediseases of cattle in a tropical country like India, and the disease impact varies from region to regionwith a state of enzootic stability of the tick-borne infection. <strong>The</strong>re is a need <strong>for</strong> improved capability todiagnose carrier animals. <strong>The</strong> specificity and sensitivity of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), usingoligonucleotide primers constructed from Mexican isolate, were studied against <strong>Indian</strong> strains of B.bigemina. With the use of PCR, it was possible to amplify the template DNA of B. bigemina to asensitivity of 500 pg, and to detect DNA in 12 out of 15 heparinized blood samples collected fromIzatnagar (northern India) and 2 out of 20 from Manipur (eastern India). <strong>The</strong> microscopicalexamination of Giemsa-stained blood films failed to reveal parasites in all except two cases fromIzatnagar. Hence this PCR based assay can be used <strong>for</strong> specific and sensitive detection of B. bigeminafrom 20 µl blood samples collected from suspected cattle.Keywords: Babesia bigemina, diagnosis, polymerase chain reactionINTRODUCTIONBabesiosis is one of the most important tick-bornediseases of cattle in tropical and subtropical regions ofthe world. It has been estimated that more than 500million cattle worldwide are at risk due to this diseasealone (Ristic, 1988). It is assumed that about 80% of<strong>Indian</strong> herd is within areas endemic <strong>for</strong> Babesia andAnaplasma infections. <strong>The</strong> economic losses, due tothese diseases were estimated to be $57 million inIndia (Tick Cost Version1.0, 1999). <strong>The</strong> clinicalmanifestations of an acute presentation of the diseaseinclude fever, anorexia, dullness, weakness, ataxia,haemoglobinuria, icterus, anaemia and presence ofintra-erythrocytic parasites (Callow, 1984). <strong>The</strong> acuteclinically apparent <strong>for</strong>m of the disease is lessCorresponding author: Dr. Reghu Ravindran, Department ofVeterinary <strong>Parasitology</strong>, College of Veterinary and Animalsciences, Pookot, Lakkidi, P. O. Wayanad-673576, India.E-mail: drreghuravi @yahoo.comfrequently observed than latent or subclinical <strong>for</strong>m, asin any other haemoparasitc disease. Followingrecovery from an acute infection, the animal becomescarrier and clinically cannot be distinguished fromnormal Babesia-free animals. <strong>The</strong> diagnosis of carrieranimals is important as these animals act as potentialsource of infection to healthy susceptible population.<strong>The</strong> diagnostic techniques available at present includemicroscopy, quantitative buffy coat (QBC) technique,serological methods and subinoculation intosusceptible non-infected splenenctomised calf (Boseet al., 1995). <strong>The</strong>se techniques have their own inherentlimitations like low sensitivity and specificity, highcost of equipment or requirements of technical skill,etc. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which wasoriginally described by Saiki et al. (1988), has theadvantage of both high sensitivity and specificity.Figueroa et al. (1992) developed a PCR along with anon-radioactive probe assay in which the primers16derived from a sequence contained P insert (Bueninget al., 1990) were used to amplify a 278 bp fragment
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