Babesiosis continues to pose a threat to dogs worldwide as a cause of anemia, thrombocytopenia, and a wide variety of clinical signs, ranging from mild, nonspecific illness to peracute collapse and death. Practitioners should be alert to the importance of collecting travel and fight history for a patient and should be aware of new piroplasm species that have been described. Asymptomatic infections necessitate careful screening of potential blood donors using a combination of diagnostic testing procedures. Current treatment strategies for babesiosis often ameliorate the clinical signs of infection, but these hemoparasites are seldom completely eliminated, and when immunocompromised, recrudescence may occur.
Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.