Canine babesiosis: indirect fluorescent antibody test for a North American isolate of Babesia gibsoni
Anderson, J.F.; Magnarelli, L.A.; Sulzer, A.J.
American Journal of Veterinary Research 41(12): 2102-2105
1980
ISSN/ISBN: 0002-9645 PMID: 7011131 Document Number: 159723
A sensitive and reproducible indirect fluorescent antibody test for a North American isolate of B. gibsoni was described. In blind tests (coded samples), titer reproducibility was within 2, 4-fold dilutions and the appropriate positive and negative sera were identified as such. B. gibsoni antisera reacted with homologous antigen at 1-3, 4-fold dilutions greater than with the following heterologous species: B. bigemina, B. argentina, B. equi, Plasmodium falciparum and P. brasilianum. The titer of B. canis antiserum to B. gibsoni antigen was 1:1024. Low parasitemia (< 0.01%) of B. gibsoni preceded development of minimum significant titer (1:64) by 10 days in a splenectomized dog. Maximum titer was detected 25 days later. In a nonsplenectomized dog, low parasitemia (< 0.01%) was noted 6 days after injection; it reached 8% at 5 wk and decreased to and remained below 1% at 7 wk. A titer of 1:256 occurred at 25 days and increased to 1:65,536 at 18 wk. Thereafter, it fluctuated to 1:4096 until the experiment was ended at 24 wk. Organismic antigen retained its reactivity for 5 days at 5.degree. C. This indirect fluorescent antibody test should be useful in the diagnosis of dogs infected with B. gibsoni.