Retrospective Analysis of Babesiosis in Dogs presented at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, From 2007 - 2015

Abstract

A 9-year retrospective analysis of clinical records of dogs presented at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), between 2007 and 2015 was done to determine the prevalence of babesiosis. A total of 2457 File cases were reviewed and dogs diagnosed with Babesia infection were analysed for the  following parameters: sex, age, medication, mortality and year of occurrence. Data generated were analyzed with One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), using Graph Pad Prism 7 software. Chi square was used to determine the difference between  sexes. Of the 2457 cases presented during the study period, 574 (23.4%) were diagnosed to be babesiosis. This comprised of 266 (46.3%) males and 308 (53.7%) females, with prevalence rates of 10.9% and 12.6% respectively. Relapse cases were 120 (20.9%) while mortality rate was 41 (7.1%). Diminazene aceturate, imidocarb and oxytetracycline were the drugs used in treating canine babesiosis during the period. Among these drugs, oxytetracycline was the most frequently used, but had the highest percentage of relapsed and mortality cases. It was concluded that the prevalence of canine babesiosis in VTH, FUNAAB is high and the highest percentage of relapsed and mortality cases was recorded with use of  oxytetracycline.

Keywords: Babesiosis, dogs, Prevalence,