Twin dogs. Source: Wikimedia commons

Although this dog disease is common throughout the world, the only cases of canine babesiosis diagnosed in the UK have been in infected dogs imported from abroad. Babesiosis was not considered to be transmitted in Britain. However, this year four dogs contracted the disease despite never having been outside the UK. All four lived in Harlow, Essex and were regularly walked in the same area of wasteland. Three of the dogs treated at the Forest Veterinary Centre in Essex survived, but one did not.

寄生虫

犬Babesiosisis caused by infection with a unicellular parasite similar to the malaria parasite. The parasite belongs to a worldwide group of vertebrate blood parasites in the genus巴贝西亚具有重要的兽医，医学和经济重要性。它们都是由ixodid（硬）tick传输的。

Dogs are infected via the bite of an infected tick and mothers can transfer the parasite to their pups. The sporozoite stage of the parasite is present in the tick’s saliva and is transmitted to the dog as the tick injects its saliva into the bite site. The parasites invade red blood cells, their pear-shaped appearance giving rise to the name, piroplasm. They multiply, eventually causing the red blood cell to burst and release the piroplasms to invade new red blood cells.

症状

As blood cells are destroyed anaemia develops in the dog (as indicated by pale coloured gums) and haemoglobin is released which gives rise to jaundice-like symptons. Other symptoms include loss of appetite, weight loss, lethargy, fever, enlarged abdomens and red-brown urine.

向量

这似乎是埃塞克斯郡犬肉虫病爆发的原因。寄生虫在活跃人群中的发生D.网状tick建立了今年3月，由一支调查哈洛（Harlow）的自行车道的团队，在那里锻炼了受感染的狗。它有最近报道了to be associated with canine babeosis in Southern Italy.

狗保护

Ticks must feed for at least 24 hours to pass the infection on, so dogs that have been in woodlands or rough areas where ticks might exist should be checked daily and ticks removed with forceps. There is no vaccine against canine babesiosis but anti-tick measures can be employed to help protect dogs. These include protection via acaricide sprays or the wearing of impregnated collars.

这Big Tick Project于4月推出。由布里斯托尔大学（University of Bristol）的理查德·沃尔（Richard Wall）领导，该发射由电视节目主持人克里斯·帕克姆（Chris Packham）宣传。该项目旨在提高狗主人中对tick传播疾病的认识。将分析由参加该项目的兽医发送的壁虱，分析寄生虫的存在巴贝西亚and the agent responsible for Lyme Disease, caused by bacteria of the疏螺旋体type, which can infect dogs as well as humans causing lethargy, fever and lameness.

除此之外，英格兰公共卫生还在运营tick监视计划since 2005. It aims to monitor the distribution and seasonality of ticks nationwide and record the incidence of exotic tick species.

其他形式的Babesiosis

Different species of巴贝西亚寄生虫可以感染包括牛在内的哺乳动物，在那里引起严重疾病。几种巴贝西亚感染人类，，，，巴贝西亚microti是北美最常见的巴布西亚发散in Europe. Babesiosis, considered to be an emerging zoonosis (a disease transmitted from animals to humans).

有趣的是，《期刊tick虫和tick虫疾病》最近发表一份报告of babesiosis occurring in chinstrap penguins in the Antartic. The tick vector,Ixodes uriae，，，，is the only tick present in the Antartic.

主要问题

当管理狗进口到英国的法规在2005年根据欧盟关于动物的自由流动的法规而放松时，Veternarians表示了严重的关注。可悲的是，他们的预测似乎已经实现，这种放松导致了与狗一起进口的英国新疾病的进口。加上这一点，最近在英国的温和潮湿的冬季导致tick人口增加。最初治疗感染狗的兽医指出，被感染的雌性tick虫产下的成千上万个卵都会带有寄生虫，因此犬Babesiosis可能会迅速传播到英国其他地区。

At the risk of “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted” perhaps it is time to rethink the relaxation of regulations regarding the free movement of dogs between the UK and mainland Europe.