''Babesia bovis'' is an
Apicomplexa
The Apicomplexa (also called Apicomplexia) are a large phylum of parasitic alveolates. Most of them possess a unique form of organelle that comprises a type of non-photosynthetic plastid called an apicoplast, and an apical complex structure. Th ...
n single-celled parasite of
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult ...
which occasionally infects humans. The disease it and other members of the genus ''
Babesia
''Babesia'', also called ''Nuttallia'', is an apicomplexan parasite that infects red blood cells and is transmitted by ticks. Originally discovered by the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeș in 1888, over 100 species of ''Babesia'' have since ...
'' cause is a
hemolytic anemia known as
babesiosis
Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a ''Babesia'' or ''Theileria'', in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via tic ...
and colloquially called Texas cattle fever, redwater or piroplasmosis. It is transmitted by bites from infected larval ticks of the order
Ixodida.
It was eradicated from the United States by 1943, but is still present in Mexico and much of the world's tropics. The chief vector of ''Babesia'' species is the southern cattle fever tick ''
Rhipicephalus microplus
The Asian blue tick (''Rhipicephalus'' (''Boophilus'') ''microplus'', ''Rhipicephalus microplus'', or ''Boophilus microplus'') is an economically important tick that parasitises a variety of livestock species especially cattle, on which it is th ...
'' (formerly ''Boophilus microplus'').
In 2007, the
sequence
In mathematics, a sequence is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetitions are allowed and order matters. Like a set, it contains members (also called ''elements'', or ''terms''). The number of elements (possibly infinite) is called ...
of its
genome
In the fields of molecular biology and genetics, a genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding ...
was announced. Measuring 8.2 million base pairs, its genome is remarkably similar to the genome of ''
Theileria parva'', the cause of
East Coast fever
East Coast fever, also known as theileriosis, is a disease of cattle which occurs in Africa and is caused by the protozoan parasite '' Theileria parva''. The primary vector which spreads ''T. parva'' between cattle is a tick, '' Rhipicephalus ap ...
(theileriosis) in cattle.
Infection
''Babesia bovis'' is transmitted transovarially, from the female ticks to the eggs, and can remain resident in tick populations for up to four years without infecting a vertebrate host. More commonly, a larval tick feeds upon a domestic cow, an
African buffalo or a
water buffalo
The water buffalo (''Bubalus bubalis''), also called the domestic water buffalo or Asian water buffalo, is a large bovid originating in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. Today, it is also found in Europe, Australia, North America, So ...
, releasing the parasites into the animal's bloodstream. The involvement of the larval stage of the ticks in the cycle is specific to ''B. bovis''; other ''Babesia'' species only involve adult ticks. The parasites then invade individual red blood cells, multiplying and destroying the host cells until the animal is stricken with hemolytic anemia.
[ Adult ticks which feed upon infected cattle are infected themselves, completing the cycle. In humans, infection is rare and usually only affects splenectomized patients.]
See also
*List of diseases eradicated from the United States
This is a list of diseases known (or declared) to have been eliminated from the United States, either permanently or at one time. ("Elimination" is the preferred term for "regional eradication" of a disease; the term " eradication" is reserved for ...
References
External links
Current status of Bovine babesiosis worldwide
at OIE. WAHID Interface - OIE World Animal Health Information Database
Disease card
{{Taxonbar, from=Q4837802
bovis
Parasites of mammals