Hematological manifestations of the acute form of uncomplicated babesiosis in dogs

Babesiosis is a tick-borne parasitic infection that is caused by hematotropic protozoa of the genus Babesia. Babesiosis is known to be one of the causes of anemia in dogs. The research was conducted on 56 dogs diagnosed with babesiosis, that were admitted for treatment to the Training and Production Center for Clinical Veterinary Medicine of Stepan Gzhytskyi Lviv National University of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnologies and three private veterinary clinics in Lviv, Ukraine, during the period from September 2023 to January 2025, where hematological characteristics were analyzed. In 33 (58.93 %) dogs the total number of erythrocytes indicated anemia. A decrease in hemoglobin level below 130 g/l was found in 35 (62.50 %) animals. The hematocrit did not exceed 37 % in 33 (58.93 %) dogs, 15 (45.45 %) of them had mild and moderate anemia, respectively, and 3 (9,10 %) animals had severe anemia. Anemia was normocytic by type. Only one animal (3.03 %) demonstrated macrocytic anemia. No dogs with microcytic anemia were admitted. The anemia was normochromic and, in some cases, hyperchromic or hypochromic. The amount of thrombocytes did not exceed the lower range of the norm in the blood of 55 (98.21 %) animals. Slight thrombocytopenia was observed in 4 (7.27 %), moderate – in 10 (18.18 %), moderate severity – in 24 (43.64 %), and severe – in 17 (30.91 %) dogs. Thrombocytopenia was normocytic in 44 (80 %) animals, microcytic in 10 (18.18 %), and macrocytic in 1 (1.82 %) animal. Leukopenia was observed in 24 (42.86 %) dogs, and leukocytosis was observed in 14 (25 %) dogs. Neutropenia was detected in 18 (32.14 %) dogs, neutrophilia was found in 8 (14.29 %) dogs. Lymphopenia was identified in 27 (48.21 %) animals, and lymphocytosis in 1 (1.79 %) animal. Two affected dogs (3.57 %) had monocyte level exceeding the lower border of the normal range, and 11 (19.64 %) dogs had monocyte level exceeding the maximum reference value. Eosinopenia was detected in 29 (51.79 %) animals, in 1 (1.79 %) dog the amount of eosinophils exceeded the upper reference value. The amount of basophils was in the normal range of reference values. Bicytopenia or pancytopenia was observed in 42 (75 %) dogs: 32 (76.19 %) animals had a combination of anemia and trobocytopenia, or anemia, thrombocytopenia and leukopenia, and 10 (23.81 %) animals had a combined thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. In conclusion, thrombocytopenia, anemia, and leukopenia were the main hematologic findings in this research. The combination of such findings formed bicytopenia or pancytopenia.