title: Occurrence of Babesia felis and Babesia leo in various wild felid species and domestic cats in Southern Africa, based on reverse line blot analysis.
abstract: Reverse line blot (RLB) is a hybridization assay that can be used to detect various blood parasites and differentiate between them. Results, using the RLB, showed that Babesia felis and Babesia leo occurred as single or mixed infections in various felid species, but most frequently in domestic cats and lions, respectively. Prevalence of infection in free-ranging cheetahs in Namibia was low (7, 5%), whereas 50% of free-ranging lions in South Africa and Swaziland were infected. A large number (52, 9%) of samples tested positive only for Babesia, neither B. felis nor B. leo. This could be an indication of at least one further, as yet undescribed, Babesia species in felids.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria, Private Bag x04, Onderstepoort 0110, South Africa. bossie.bosman@up.ac.za
authors.forename: A-M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bosman
authors.forename: E H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Venter
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Penzhorn
mesh_terms: D002612:Acinonyx; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic / Q000469:parasitology; D000835:Animals, Wild / Q000469:parasitology; D001403:Babesia / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002371:Cat Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002415:Cats; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D045989:Felidae; D005260:Female; D008045:Lions; D008297:Male; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization / Q000379:methods; D010802:Phylogeny; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan