Possible vertical transmission of Babesia canis canis from a bitch to her puppies: a case report

The present study reports the possible vertical transmission of Babesia canis canis from an infected bitch to her puppies. The study concerns a bitch that had developed babesiosis in week seven of pregnancy and her litter, three puppies that exhibited symptoms of the disease in Weeks 8–9 post-partum. In all animals, the infection with protozoa was confirmed by the results of a PCR blood test. The identity of the nucleotide sequences of the amplified fragment of the gene (18S RNA) isolated from the blood of the puppies and the bitch was 100%, which indicates that all the dogs were infected with the same strain of protozoa. This result, together with the exclusion of other possible routes of babesiosis transmission in puppies, suggests that they were infected with Babesia canis canis in utero.