Epidemiological survey of Babesia gibsoni infection in dogs in Japan by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay using B. gibsoni thrombospondin-related adhesive protein antigen.
A nationwide epidemiological survey of Babesia gibsoni infection in non-fighting dogs was conducted using an improved ELISA with recombinant B. gibsoni thrombospondin-related adhesive protein (BgTRAP). A total of 1206 dogs from 27 prefectures were examined and 128 (10.6%) tested positive. In the eastern part of Japan, 39 dogs out of the 559 (7.0%) examined were positive, while 89 dogs out of 647 (13.8%) tested positive in the western part of Japan. Although the percentage of dogs that tested positive was significantly (p=0.0001) lower in the eastern part compared to the western part of Japan, overall these results indicate that B. gibsoni infection of dogs has a widespread geographic distribution throughout the country. A history of tick infestation was identified as a significant risk factor for B. gibsoni infection (p=0.0091), while sex (p=0.9411), age (p=0.0920) and breed (p=0.0549) of dogs were not statistically significant risk factors. These results indicate that tick infestation is the most dominant risk factor for B. gibsoni infection of non-fighting dogs in Japan and suggest that other B. gibsoni transmission routes, such as fighting and transplacental transmission, may be less important.
Konishi
Kenji
K
Department of Clinical Veterinary Science, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
Sakata
Yoshimi
Y
Miyazaki
Naomi
N
Jia
Honglin
H
Goo
Youn-Kyoung
YK
Xuan
Xuenan
X
Inokuma
Hisashi
H
D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D001403:Babesia / Q000276:immunology* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D004285:Dogs; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005843:Geography; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000276:immunology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D013984:Tick Infestations / Q000662:veterinary
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000953:Antigens, Protozoan; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; C069428:thrombospondin-related adhesive protein, protozoan