A genotypically unique Babesia gibsoni-like parasite recovered from a dog in Oklahoma

A small Babesia gibsoni-like parasite was identified and isolated as the ca use of clinical babesiosis in a dog from Oklahoma. Because this was potenti ally the first documented case of B. gibsoni infection in Oklahoma. further characterization was warranted, and the 18S nuclear small subunit ribosoma l RNA gene was sequenced. Sequence comparison with other piroplasms from do gs showed significant nucleotide sequence differences between this isolate and both B. canis and B. gibsoni, These findings demonstrate that in domest ic dogs in North America there are at least 2 "small" B. Ribsoni-like organ isms with distinct nucleotide sequences and that the geographic distributio n of the "small" canine Babesia species may be wider than previously recogn ized.