title: Bartonella and Babesia infections in cattle and their ticks in Taiwan.
abstract: Bartonella and Babesia infections and the association with cattle breed and age as well as tick species infesting selected cattle herds in Taiwan were investigated. Blood samples were collected from 518 dairy cows and 59 beef cattle on 14 farms and 415 ticks were collected from these animals or in a field. Bartonella and Babesia species were isolated and/or detected in the cattle blood samples and from a selected subset (n=254) of the ticks either by culture or DNA extraction, PCR testing and DNA sequence analysis. Bartonella bovis was isolated from a dairy cow and was detected in 25 (42.4%) beef cattle and 40 (15.7%) tick DNA samples. This is the first isolation of B. bovis from cattle in Asia and detection of a wide variety of Bartonella species in Rhipicephalus microplus. Babesia spp. were detected only on one farm from dairy cows either infected by Babesia bovis (n=10, 1.9%) or B. bigemina (n=3, 0.6%).
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Health and Reproduction, School of Veterinary Medicine, 1 Shields Avenue, University of California Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: Yi-Lun
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tsai
authors.forename: Bruno B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Chomel
authors.forename: Chao-Chin
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Philip H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Kass
authors.forename: Patricia A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: Shih-Te
authors.initials: ST
authors.lastname: Chuang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001403:Babesia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D001473:Bartonella / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D001474:Bartonella Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence; D013624:Taiwan; D013987:Ticks / Q000469:parasitology*