EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF WHOLE-BLOOD TRANSFUSION ON THE OXYGEN STATUS AND ACID-BASE-BALANCE OF BABESIA-CANIS INFECTED-DOGS USING THE OXYGEN STATUS ALGORITHM

The usefulness of whole-blood transfusion in normalising the blood-gas , acid-base, and arterial oxygen status in severe babesiosis was demon strated in 6 severely affected Babesia canis infected dogs. These dogs all demonstrated a metabolic acidosis at admission and yet were not a cidaemic. It is possible that this may reflect a mixed acid-base disor der (metabolic acidosis with respiratory alkalosis). They all showed s evere hypoxaemia at admission. A number of derived blood-gas and acid- base parameters as determined by the Oxygen Status Algorithm (OSA) wer e shown to be a superior way of assessing and monitoring the temporal response of severe babesiosis cases to blood transfusion. It was shown that fresh whole-blood transfusion is a safe and physiological way of reversing acid-base and blood-gas derangements associated with severe babesiosis in dogs. Intravenous alkalinisation with sodium bicarbonat e for the treatment of the metabolic acidosis of babesiosis is questio ned.