Seasonal prevalence of babesia in sheep in South Syria

Abstract EN

Due to the lack of information on the prevalence of babesiosis in sheep in south Syria this research was carried out to fill some of the knowledge gaps in the epidemiology of Babesia in addition to determine the seasonal prevalence of Babesia in sheep in south Syria and the relate of the prevalence with sex and age of the infected animals.

Thirty-two blood samples (sixteen from ewes and sixteen from rams) were randomly sampled monthly from January 2010 to December 2010.

A total of 384 sheep, thin blood smear- based diagnostic methods were used to assess the presence of Babesia in sheep.

The study revealed that 22.1 % of sheep were infected with Babesia.

Seasonally, the prevalence of Babesia infection in sheep reached highest level in July (%37.5), while reached the lowest level in January and February (%12.5).

The prevalence Babesia infection between male and female and among different age groups of sheep was statistically non-significant.