Zoonotic Babesia: A scoping review of the global evidence.

BACKGROUND: Babesiosis is a parasitic vector-borne disease of increasing public health importance. Since the first human case was reported in 1957, zoonotic species have been reported on nearly every continent. Zoonotic Babesia is vectored by Ixodes ticks and is commonly transmitted in North America by Ixodes scapularis, the tick species responsible for transmitting the pathogens that also cause Lyme disease, Powassan virus, and anaplasmosis in humans. Predicted climate change is expected to impact the spread of vectors, which is likely to affect the distribution of vector-borne diseases including human babesiosis. METHODS: A scoping review has been executed to characterize the global evidence on zoonotic babesiosis. Articles were compiled through a comprehensive search of relevant bibliographic databases and targeted government websites. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts for relevance and characterized full-text articles using a relevance screening and data characterization tool developed a priori. RESULTS: This review included 1394 articles relevant to human babesiosis and/or zoonotic Babesia species. The main zoonotic species were B. microti, B. divergens, B. duncani and B. venatorum. Articles described a variety of study designs used to study babesiosis in humans and/or zoonotic Babesia species in vectors, animal hosts, and in vitro cell cultures. Topics of study included: pathogenesis (680 articles), epidemiology (480), parasite characterization (243), diagnostic test accuracy (98), mitigation (94), treatment (65), transmission (54), surveillance (29), economic analysis (7), and societal knowledge (1). No articles reported predictive models investigating the impact of climate change on Babesia species. CONCLUSION: Knowledge gaps in the current evidence include research on the economic burden associated with babesiosis, societal knowledge studies, surveillance of Babesia species in vectors and animal hosts, and predictive models on the impact of climate change. The scoping review results describe the current knowledge and knowledge gaps on zoonotic Babesia which can be used to inform future policy and decision making.

Effects of Oral Sunflower Oil on Serum and Cutaneous Fatty Acid Concentration Profiles in Seborrheic Dogs.

Abstract- Twenty-one dogs with chronic seborrhea were evaluated in this study. Serum fatty acid concentration profiles of the seborrheic dogs were within normal reference ranges. However, cutaneous fatty acid concentration profiles showed elevations in oleic acid and arachidonic acid with decreased levels of linoleic acid. Following supplementation with oral sunflower oil (1.5 ml/kg body weight/day) for 30 days, the cutaneous fatty acid concentration profiles returned to near normal values and clinical signs of seborrhea lessened in severity. Clinical signs of seborrhea in dogs may be partly attributable to a localized deficiency of linoleic acid and/or elevated levels of arachidonic acid in the skin. Résumé- Cette étude a porté sur vingt et un chiens présentant une séborrhée chronique. Les concentrations plasmatiques d'acides gras des chiens séborruélaques étainet dans les limites des valeurs usuelles. Toutefols, les concentration d'acides gras au niveau cutané ont montré des élévations des concentrations d'acide oléique et d'acide archidonique et une diminution des concentrations d'acide linoléqiue. Après 30 jours d'une supplémentation à base d'huile d'onagre (0,5 ml/kg PV/j), les concentrations cutanées d'acides gras étaient revenues àla normales et les signes cliniques de séborrhées avaient diminué. Les signes cliniques de la séborrhée chez le chien pourraient en partie être dus à une concentration cutanée trop élevée d'acide obéique et d'acide arachidonique et/ou trop faibie d'acide linoléique. Zusammenfassung- In dieser Studie wurde chronische Seborrhoe bei einundzwanzig Hunden ausgewertet. Die Konzentrationsprofile der Serumfettsäuren der Hunde mit Seborrhoe lagen innerhalb der normalen Referenzbereiche. Die Konsentrationsprofile der kutanen Fettsäuren zeigten eine Erhöhung der öl-und Arachidonsäure sowie verminderte Mengen an Linolsäure. Nach einer oralen Ergänzung mit Sonnenblumenöl (1,5 ml/kg Körpergewicht und Tag) über 30 Tage kehrten die Konzentrationsprofile der kutanen Fettsäuren nahe an die Normalwerte zurück und die klinischen Symptome der Seborrhoe verminderten sich in ihrem Ausmaß. Die klinischen Veränderungen der Seborrhoe bein Hund können teilweise durch einen lokalisierten Mangrel an Linolsäure und/oder durch einen erhöten Spiegel an Arachidonsäure in der Haut bedingt sein. Resumen En este estudio se evaluan 21 perros con seborrea de tipo crónico. Los valores de las concentraciones de acídos grasos en el suero resultaron hallarse dentro del rango normal. Sin embargo, las concentracions du ácido oleico y araquidónico en la piel entaban aumentadas, y las de ácido linoleico reducidas. Después de una suplementación con aceite de girasol, (1.5 ml/kg de peso corporal/día), por un periodo de 30 días, la concentración de ácidos grasos cutáneos se vió casi normalizada y los signos clínicos de seborrea disminuyeron de severidad. El cuadro clínico de seborrea en perros podria ser atribuido parcialmente a la deficiencia local de ácido linoleico, y/o a la elevación de ácido araquidónico en la piel.