Abstract
A nationwide questionnaire was conducted on the prevalence of the Babesia gibsoni infection in dogs in 2009 and 2010. The questionnaire was sent to 9,513 animal hospitals in all 47 prefectures, and 6,746 answers (70.9%) were received. Among the respondents, 859 animal hospitals (12.7%) have diagnosed B. gibsoni infection in dogs. The numbers of patients were 3,802 and 3,625 in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In Eastern Japan, a total of 89 animal hospitals diagnosed 87 patients infected with B. gibsoni in 2009 and 75 infected in 2010. Nine clinical cases of B. gibsoni infection were confirmed in non-fighting dogs without travel histories in Western Japan,in Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, Saitama, Tokyo, and Nagano prefectures. It is suggested that natural infection with B. gibsoni would have occurred in Eastern Japan. In Western Japan, a total of 769 animal hospitals diagnosed 3,715 and 3,550 patients infected with B. gibsoni in 2009 and 2010, respectively. In particular, more than 200 confirmed clinical cases per year were reported from Kagawa, Kumamoto, Tokushima, Yamaguchi, Fukuoka,Miyazaki and Hyogo prefectures.
