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These pathogens are typically transmitted either by tick vectors or by direct blood-to-blood contact, and may cause life-threatening clinical disease, such as thrombocytopenia, hemolytic anemia and acute renal failure, in canine hosts. While\n                      <jats:italic>Babesia vogeli<\/jats:italic>\n                      and\n                      <jats:italic>Babesia gibsoni<\/jats:italic>\n                      infections have both been reported in Oklahoma, reports of\n                      <jats:italic>Babesia conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      infections have been limited to California.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Four separate kennels of coyote-hunting dogs were identified in Oklahoma after the kennels had consulted with Oklahoma State University Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital (antemortem cases) or the Oklahoma Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab (postmortem cases). Upon owner consent, every accessible dog from each of the four kennels was briefly examined for ectoparasites, particularly ticks, and whole blood samples were collected in EDTA tubes. Clinically ill dogs were examined by a practicing veterinarian, and clinical signs included anorexia, vomiting, lethargy, fever and anemia. DNA was extracted from each blood sample, and a nested PCR was performed using general apicomplexan primers for the partial\n                      <jats:italic>18S rRNA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene. PCR products were electrophoresed in agarose matrix, and appropriately sized amplicons were sequenced. Sequences were compared to reference\n                      <jats:italic>18S rRNA<\/jats:italic>\n                      gene sequences available in GenBank, and samples with &gt;\u200998% homology to\n                      <jats:italic>B. conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      (GenBank: AF158702) were considered positive.\n                      <jats:italic>Babesia conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      -positive dogs were then treated with atovaquone (13.5\u00a0mg\/kg three times per day) and azithromycin (10\u00a0mg\/kg once daily) for 10\u00a0days and retested at 30 and 60\u00a0days post-treatment by PCR.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Of 40 dogs tested, 15 (37.5%) were positive for\n                      <jats:italic>B. conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      with 98\u201399% sequence homology to\n                      <jats:italic>B. conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      from California. All positive cases were coyote-hunting Greyhounds. Ectoparasites were not identified on any of the dogs at the time of blood collection. Treatment of clinically ill dogs with atovaquone and azithromycin resulted in complete clinical recovery in all treated dogs with negative follow-up PCR at 30 and 60\u00a0days post-treatment.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      Collectively, this study (i) documents the occurrence of\n                      <jats:italic>B. conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      in Oklahoma, (ii) highlights this pathogen as a differential to be considered when clinical signs are present, (iii) supports the use of atovaquone and azithromycin as effective treatment in these cases and (iv) demonstrates chronic subclinical carrier dogs serving as potential reservoirs of\n                      <jats:italic>B. conradae<\/jats:italic>\n                      infection to na\u00efve dogs.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Graphical abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s13071-021-04897-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,14]],"date-time":"2021-08-14T04:03:02Z","timestamp":1628913782000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":9,"title":["Emergence of Babesia conradae infection in coyote-hunting Greyhounds in Oklahoma, USA"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-5557-1845","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Erin","family":"Stayton","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Megan","family":"Lineberry","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jennifer","family":"Thomas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tina","family":"Bass","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Kelly","family":"Allen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ramaswamy","family":"Chandrashekar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gene","family":"Yost","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Mason","family":"Reichard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Craig","family":"Miller","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,14]]},"reference":[{"key":"4897_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1501","DOI":"10.1016\/S0020-7519(00)00120-X","volume":"30","author":"A Kjemtrup","year":"2000","unstructured":"Kjemtrup A, Kocan A, Whitworth L, Meinkoth J, Birkenheuer A, Cummings J, et al. 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