First reported case of bovine babesiosis in Flanders

This paper describes the first outbreak of bovine babesiosis caused by Babesia divergens in Flanders, Northern Belgium. Since 2002, every year in spring and autumn fattening cows showed severe depression, anorexia, fever, anemia, jaundice and haemoglobinuria. Babesiosis was diagnosed based on the clinical signs and on the identification of B. divergens in blood smears and by IFAT and PCR. The management of this herd (continuous import of new susceptible animals) precluded the development of enzootic stability. Prevention of babesiosis in this herd was based on prophylactic or metaphylactic treatment with imidocarb and/or intensive tick control with flumethrin. However, these treatments did not prevent new outbreaks, despite a strong reduction of the number of ticks on the animals. A short review on B. divergens infections in cattle is included in this article.