title: Guidelines for the Detection of Babesia and Theileria Parasites.
abstract: The genera Babesia and Theileria (phylum Apicomplexa, order Piroplasmida) are mainly transmitted by Ixodid ticks in which the sexual part of their life cycle followed by sporogony takes place. They include protozoan parasites that infect erythrocytes of a variety of vertebrate hosts, including domestic and wild animals, with some Babesia spp. also infecting humans. Babesia sporozoites transmitted in the tick's saliva during the bloodmeal directly infect erythrocytes, where they asexually multiply to produce pear-shaped merozoites in the process of merogony; whereas a pre-erythrocytic schizogonic life stage in leukocytes is found in Theileria and precedes merogony in the erythrocytes. The wide spectrum of Babesia and Theileria species and their dissimilar characteristics with relation to disease severity, transmission, epidemiology, and drug susceptibility stress the importance of accurate detection of babesiosis and theileriosis and their causative agents. These guidelines review the main methods currently used for the detection of Babesia and Theileria spp. for diagnostic purposes as well as epidemiological studies involving their vertebrate hosts and arthropod vectors. Serological methods were not included once they did not indicate current infection but rather exposure.
authors.affiliation: 1 Laboratory of Parasitology and Parasitic Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Liège , Liège, Belgium .
authors.forename: Laetitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lempereur
authors.affiliation: 2 Laboratory for Parasitology, Croatian Veterinary Institute , Zagreb, Croatia .
authors.forename: Relja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Beck
authors.affiliation: 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, University of Lisbon , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fonseca
authors.affiliation: 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, University of Lisbon , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Cátia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Marques
authors.affiliation: 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, University of Lisbon , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.affiliation: 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, University of Lisbon , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: 3 Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Animal Health, University of Lisbon , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zúquete
authors.affiliation: 4 National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research , Oeiras, Portugal .
authors.forename: Jacinto
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Hygiene and Medical Microbiology, Innsbruck Medical University , Innsbruck, Austria .
authors.forename: Gernot
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Walder
authors.affiliation: 6 Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT) , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domingos
authors.affiliation: 6 Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical (IHMT) , Lisbon, Portugal .
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Antunes
authors.affiliation: 7 Koret School of Veterinary Medicine, Hebrew University , Rehovot, Israel .
authors.forename: Gad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Baneth
authors.affiliation: 8 National Centre for Vector Entomology, Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich , Zurich, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Cornelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Silaghi
authors.affiliation: 9 Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University , College Station, Texas.
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Holman
authors.affiliation: 10 UCD Veterinary Sciences Centre, University College Dublin , Belfield, Dublin, Ireland .
authors.forename: Annetta
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zintl
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D001403:Babesia / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D016794:Theileria / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013801:Theileriasis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology; D013987:Ticks / Q000469:parasitology
chemical_list: D016054:DNA, Protozoan
keywords: Babesia; PCR; Theileria; diagnosis; in vitro culture