Leisewitz, A.L.; Mrljak, V.; Dear, J.D.; Birkenheuer, A. The Diverse Pathogenicity of Various Babesia Parasite Species That Infect Dogs. Pathogens2023, 12, 1437.
Leisewitz, A.L.; Mrljak, V.; Dear, J.D.; Birkenheuer, A. The Diverse Pathogenicity of Various Babesia Parasite Species That Infect Dogs. Pathogens 2023, 12, 1437.
Leisewitz, A.L.; Mrljak, V.; Dear, J.D.; Birkenheuer, A. The Diverse Pathogenicity of Various Babesia Parasite Species That Infect Dogs. Pathogens2023, 12, 1437.
Leisewitz, A.L.; Mrljak, V.; Dear, J.D.; Birkenheuer, A. The Diverse Pathogenicity of Various Babesia Parasite Species That Infect Dogs. Pathogens 2023, 12, 1437.
Abstract
Babesia species infect a very wide range of mammal hosts across the globe and zoonotic infections are of growing concern. Several species of the Babesia genus infect dogs and some of these cause significant morbidity and mortality. The Apicomplexan parasite resides within the red cell and infections result in direct damage to the host through intra- and extravascular hemolysis. An exuberant inflammatory response by the host to some species of Babesia parasites also result in significant collateral damage to the host. Canine infections have been the subject of much study as the wellbeing of these companion animals is increasingly threatened by the spread of tick vectors and an increasingly mobile dog population. There are no widely available and effective vaccines and effective treatment can be challenging. Understanding disease pathogenesis underlies the development of new treatments. The varying pathogenicity of the various Babesia parasite species that infect dogs offers an opportunity to explore the molecular basis for the wide range of disease caused by infection with this parasite genus. In this review we focus on what has been reported about the clinical presentation of Babesia infected dogs in an attempt to compare the severity of disease caused by different Babesia species.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
