High prevalence of small species in canines of Kerala, South India.

Aim: Canine babesiosis is an important vector-borne hemoparasitic disease caused by and , in India. The communication places on record the salient findings of the study directed to detect and characterize the pathogenic isolates of Kerala state.

Materials And Methods: A total of 150 dogs were examined for the presence of hemoparasites by light microscopy as well as by PCR targeting the 18S rRNA gene of .