A case of prenatal Babesia bovis infection in Brazil in a 17 year-old Holstein × Brown Swiss cow which aborted at approximately eight months of gestation is described and discussed. The newborn calf outlived for few minutes and then died. At necropsy, the thoracic and abdominal cavities were filled by a great volume of a transparent liquid and petechial hemorrhages in oral mucosa and epicardium were observed. Histopathologic examination stained by Haematoxylin-Eosin of lungs, spleen, liver, kidneys, brain and cerebellum revealed variable degrees of congestion and edema, particularly in the liver and brain. In the liver, inflammatory multi-nucleated cells were seen surrounding the portal area and a reasonable degeneration was noted. The brain also revealed endothelium reaction, multi-located hemorrhagic areas in blood vessels and neuronal degeneration. The diagnosis was based on necropsy and microscopic examination of brain that showed B. bovis in the capillary vessels in imprints by Giemsa.
Cattle; Babesia bovis; prenatal infection
