Cross sectional study on prevalence of ovine babesiosis in different breeds of Kashmir valley

A study was undertaken to elucidate the prevalence of ovine babesiosis in Kashmir. Present study evaluated a total of 691 sheep reared at different places of central Kashmir and presented to Veterinary Clinical Complex, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences and Animal Husbandry (SKUAST Kashmir), Srinagar. Animals were screened from May 2016 to June 2017 for the prevalence of ovine babesiosis. A total of 185 cases of ovine babesiosis were diagnosed with a prevalence rate of 26.77%. The diagnosis was based on clinical manifestations, presence of ticks, demonstration of Babesia piroplasms on blood smear, and by PCR amplification. The animals were divided into four groups based on the major breeds present in Kashmir valley. Group A comprised of cross bred sheep, group B comprised of corriedale breed of sheep, group C comprised of south down breed of sheep and group D comprised of local bakarwal breed of sheep. The higehest prevalence of diseases (babesiosis) was found in cross bred sheep (91.35%), followed by Corriedale (8.11%), South Down (0.54%) and Bakerwal (0.00%) breeds. The disease was more predominant in females (78.37%) than males (21.62%). Haemaphysalis ticks were identified as the vectors for the transmission of ovine babesiosis in the study area.