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Article: Cervids as Babesiae hosts, Slovenia.(DISPATCHES)
- Article from:
- Emerging Infectious Diseases
- Article date:
- July 1, 2005
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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We describe cervids as potential reservoir hosts of Babesia EU1 and B. divergens. Both babesial parasites were found in roe deer. Sequence analysis of 18S rRNA showed 99.7% identity of roe deer Babesia EU1 with the human EU1 strain. B. divergens detected in cervids was 99.6% identical to bovine B. divergens.
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Human babesiosis is an emerging tick-transmitted disease caused by intraerythrocytic parasites of the genus Babesia. A bovine parasite, Babesia divergens has been implicated as the most common agent of this dangerous zoonosis in Europe (1). The life cycle of B. divergens is determined by cattle, the vertebrate host, and by European sheep ...