Study on Spatio-temporal Prevalence and Hematological Attributes of Bovine Babesiosis in Cattle Population of Layyah, Southern Punjab, Pakistan

The objective of the present study was to investigate the spatiotemporal prevalence of bovine babesiosis in cattle population (n=376) of District Layyah, South Punjab, Pakistan as affected by location, age, breed, gender and seasons. Blood samples were collected aseptically and assessed for babesiosis through microscopy and PCR, and through automated analyzer for hematological attributes. Overall results of prevalence as attained through PCR in cattle population showed a significantly (P[≤]0.05) lower prevalence of 19.4% (n=72/376) as compared to 37.2% (n=140/276) through microscopy. None of the studied cattle from Cholistani breed were Babesia-positive. However, significantly (P[≤]0.05) higher prevalence was noticed for crossbred cattle (46.7%, n= 50/107) followed by that in Friesian (16.1%, n= 10/62), Jersey (7%, n= 5/71) and Sahiwal (6.9%, n= 7/101) cattle breeds. Female cattle (19.5%, n= 55/281) and age group 1 (Up to 2 years) (40%, n= 42/105) had higher prevalence of Babesia as ascertained through PCR in comparison to their counterpart groups. Significantly (P[≤]0.05) higher prevalence of 35.9% (n=60/167) was shown in summer as compared to that in winter season (5.7%, n= 12/209). All the positive samples produced the 490bp amplicons specific and typical for Babesia bigemina. Regarding hematology, hemoglobin concentration, erythrocytic count, hematocrit and mean corpuscular volume were significantly (P[≤]0.05) lower in babesia-positive cattle as compared to healthy ones. In a nutshell, indigenous cattle breeds are tick-resistant hardy breeds and do not show severe signs of babesiosis as compared to exotic and crossbred cattle. Furthermore, Southern Punjab area of Pakistan has a different spatiotemporal distribution of babesiosis with bigemina being predominant.