Lyme Disease

Babesiosis

Babesiosis is a disease that affects dogs, cats, and cattle.  The brown dog tick passes the parasite to these animals, and the disease is generally found wherever the tick is found.

Symptoms: In dogs: Puppies infected with babesiosis tend to experience anemia, lethargy, anorexia, fever, blood in the urine, and vomiting.  The condition can become chronic, resulting in recurring fever, depressed appetite, and loss of body condition.  Older dogs are less likely to develop symptoms, but do sometimes experience anemia, a loss of platelets (decreasing the blood’s ability to clot), and infection or inflammation as a result of increased lymphocytes in the blood.

In cats: Symptoms usually only appear in cats under two years of age.  These symptoms include lethargy, anorexia, weakness, rough coat, and diarrhea.

In cattle: Symptoms include anemia, depression, fever, loss of appetite, pale and yellow (jaundice) eyes and gums, blood in urine.  In severe cases, cattle may experience signs of nervousness, lack of coordination, paralysis, and coma.

Treatment: Imidocarb dipropprionate was recently approved for the treatment of babesiosis.

Babesiosis in Humans

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