Vol. 12, Special Issue 10 (2023)

Author(s):
Ashok R Patel, Manish D Patel, Sudhir A Mehta, Saurabh M Parmar, Suresh V Mavadiya, Jignesh A Vala, Hitesh C Parmar and Pooja G Gamit

Abstract:
Canine babesiosis is an emerging tick borne infectious disease with wide range of clinical manifestations from subclinical to life-threatening conditions. Considering the importance of disease in canines, the present study was carried out to evaluate the comparative efficacy of two antibabesial treatment protocols against canine babesiosis in and around Navsari during a period from October 2022 to June 2023. Out of 1040 cases of dogs registered at Veterinary Clinical Complex, Veterinary College, Navsari, 52 cases were suspected for canine babesiosis based on clinical symptoms and haematological findings. Simultaneously, confirmation was made by commercially available rapid antibody diagnostic test kit. Of 29 confirmed cases, 12 cases were randomly distributed to two treatment protocols (6 each) under Group-II (Imidocarb dipropionate) and Group-III (Modified MCD protocol using combination of metronidazole, clindamycin and doxycycline), whereas, six healthy dogs (Group-I) were kept as control. Various haemato-biochemical and vital parameters were compared between and within a treatment groups at different time intervals. Therapeutic efficacies of both treatment groups were estimated based on percentage of reduction (PR) in clinical score. Overall incidence of canine babesiosis was 2.79 percent. The incidence of canine babesiosis among suspected cases was 55.77 percent. Important haemato-biochemical and vital parameters showed improvement towards normalcy in both treatment groups on day 14. The clinical scores of Group-II and Group-III were significantly reduced from day 0 to day 14. Based on percent reduction of clinical score, better treatment response was observed in Group-III (81.02%) with modified MCD protocol than Group-II (75.19%) with Inj. Imidocarb dipropionate.