Occurrence of “Babesia" sp. in crossbred calves by diagnosis methods in Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil

Abstract

305 dairy calves sera samples at different ages for a serological survey in order to determine antibodies serum prevalence against Babesisa bovis and Babesia bigemina in zebu cattle as well as the crossbreds in Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil were collected. By Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Test (IFAT) and Indirect Enzyme-Linked Immunoadsorbent Assay (ELISA) data were analyzed. Positive serum dairy cattle average percentages indicated 90.20 and 90.50% for B. bovis and 88.20 and 78.70% for B. bigemina by IFAT and ELISA, respectively. Both B. bovis and B. bigemina tests agreement ratio were 98.00 and 61.00%. Serum prevalence showed that the region is enzootically considered stable for bovine babesiosis infection with high disease prevalence. In Campos dos Goytacazes region whose livestock activity has been noted as a second income supporting, the present study may be regarding as unpublished, at all.