Transmission of Babesia sp to sheep with field-collected Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis

Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis ticks collected in the Gannan Tibet Autonomous Region were infested onto a sheep from a Babesia-free area. A strain of small Babesia (1.8-2.1 mum in length) was isolated from the sheep. Most of the Babesia in erythrocytes were round, oval, single pyriform, double pyriform, budding or elongated in form. Measurements were made of 100 single sides of the double-pyriform Babesia and compared with those for B. motasi and B. ovis from Holland, using Student's t-test. The Gannan small Babesia was similar to the B. ovis from Holland, but differed significantly from the Dutch B. motasi.