The development of
Babesia equi in salivary glands of adult female
Boophilus microplus was observed under a light microscope using semithin sections stained with toluidine blue. Engorged nymphs were obtained
from splenectomized foals experimentally infected with
B. equi. As adults, they were then fed on rabbits for 5 days and the salivary glands of manually collected individuals were removed
at intervals of 24 h. Sporozoites were found in type III granular acini cells between the 2nd and 5th days following feeding
on the rabbits. Sporoblasts and sporozoites were observed in the same or adjacent acini cells in all the glands examined.
The formation of the sporozoites occurred following the multiple division of the sporoblasts through a process of radial budding
from the periphery of bodies resulting from multiple fission. Sporozoites were detected in smears of adult males stained with
Giemsa, between the 2nd and 5th days following feeding by the ticks. Adults of
B. microplus, fed during the nymphal phase on foals with patent parasitemia, transmitted sporozoites of
B. equi to a splenectomized foal. The role of
B. microplus in the transmission and epidemiology of
B. equi is discussed.
Received: 16 June 1997 / Accepted: 2 September 1997