Babesia vogeli

Javeed, Nadia N., Shultz, Laura, Barnum, Samantha, Foley, Janet E., Hodzic, Emir, Pascoe, Emily L., Martínez-Lopez, Beatríz, Quinn, Niamh, Bucklin, Danielle & Dear, Jonathan D., 2022, Prevalence and geographic distribution of Babesia conradae and detection of Babesia vogeli in free-ranging California coyotes (Canis latrans), International Journal for Parasitology: Parasites and Wildlife 19, pp. 294-300 : 298

4.2. Babesia vogeli

This is the first documentation of B. vogeli infection in California coyotes—only one other study reported B. vogeli in free-ranging coyotes in areas of southern Texas (Yu and others 2020). Although determining the prevalence of B. vogeli was not an aim of our study, 4 of the 14 (28.6%) sequenced samples were 100% homologous with B. vogeli which is higher than has been previously documented in coyote populations (9%) (Yu and others 2020). However, it is impossible to know how this compares to the actual PCR prevalence of B. vogeli in coyotes because only a small subset of our samples was sequenced. Babesia vogeli has been found to infect dogs in the United States (Barash and others 2019; Birkenheuer and others 2005), and has been primarily diagnosed in southeastern states. Given the number of infected coyotes in this study, B. vogeli may be more ubiquitous in the western United States than previous thought.

Babesia vogeli generally causes less severe disease relative to other Babesia spp. that infect dogs—animals that show clinical signs in natural occurring infections are often puppies, have concomitant disease, or are immunosuppressed (Solano-Gallego and others 2008). Clinical signs, if present, include fever, lethargy, and anorexia, but occasionally the disease can be lethal (Solano-Gallego and others 2008). As for B. conradae , the effect of infection on coyote health has not been investigated.