The Prevalence and Genetic Diversity of Babesia divergens in Ixodes ricinus Nymphs Collected from Farm- and Woodland Sites in Ireland.

ABSTRACT: The parasite, Babesia divergens causes redwater fever in cattle and a rare, albeit life-threatening disease in humans. In Ireland, B. divergens has always been considered an important pathogen as the high incidence of redwater fever precluded areas of the country from cattle farming. Moreover a relatively large proportion of human cases were reported here. Red deer (Cervus elaphus), which often harbour babesias that are genetically very similar (if not identical) to B. divergens, are quite widespread. In this study 1369 nymphal Ixodes ricinus ticks collected from various habitats were screened for the presence of B. divergens using TaqMan followed by conventional nested PCR. Fragments of the 18S rRNA gene locus (560 bp) were compared against published Irish B. divergens isolates from cattl

SUBMITTER: McKiernan F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8951431 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature