Abstract

Bovine babesiosis is one of the destructive diseases affecting cattle worldwide especially in tropical and subtropical areas. In Egypt, small livestock holder represents the majority of livestock owners affected by the devastating impact of this disease including costs of diagnosis, treatment, control and prevention as well as limitations of production and reproduction of the affected animals. Early and accurate diagnosis of Babesia spp. infection plays an important role in treatment and control. The current study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of Loop-Mediated Isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay as a new molecular technique used for diagnosis of bovine babesiosis in naturally infected cattle. The confirmation of this infection was depended on blood smears, LAMP and Nested-Polymerase chain Reaction (nPCR) assays, which confirmed the infection in 19%, 47.62% and 52.38% of the examined animals, respectively. Tick samples were collected and identified as Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus, which is the vector of Babesia spp. Evaluation of blood smears and LAMP assay was carried out against nPCR as a reference test. The obtained results revealed that LAMP assay is a sensitive, specific and cost effective test and will be one of the near future applicable tests in epidemiological and diagnostic studies on babesiosis especially in developing countries endemic with this disease.