ABSTRACT

One of the early accounts of babesiosis in the US involved an outbreak in Indiana and Illinois after the importations of apparently healthy cattle from Texas. The prevalence of the cattle ticks, babesiosis, and anaplasmosis are among the most important factors hindering the introduction of more productive livestock and the upgrading of existing livestock in the developing countries. Babesiosis in cattle has often been thought of as a disease of the tropics and subtropics, where it most often occurs, but in reality, different pathogenic babesias affecting cattle occur throughout the world, with widely different vectors. The reliance on tick control for the prevention of babesiosis historically has proven highly effective, but complete reliance on one system may impose circumstances that could prove hazardous. The babesias associated with swint babesiosis, B. trautmanni and B. perroncitoi may be pathogenic, but occur at lower prevalence rates than the babesias of grazing animals.