author(s)
Roopesh MP, Placid Eugene D’Souza and GS Mamatha

abstract
A molecular study was carried out for detection of canine Babesia spp. in tick vectors by PCR. In a total of 71 R. sanguineus subjected to genus specific PCR, 14 (19.71%) ticks showed amplification of 410 bp fragment specific for Babesia spp. Out of 14 Babesia spp. positive samples, 12 (16.90%) showed amplification of 671 bp fragment specific for B. gibsoni and 2 (2.81%) samples showed specific amplification of 590 bp specific for B. c. vogeli. None of the tick DNA samples from R. haemaphysaloides showed specific amplication for genus Babesia. Out of 110 dogs examined, 71 were infested with ticks, with an overall prevalence of 64.54 percent. Out of 764 ticks collected from infested dogs, 54.84 percent were found to be R. sanguineus and 45.15 percent of ticks were found to be R. haemaphysaloides.