In vitro cultivation of Chinese strains of Babesia spp

Microaerophilus stationary phase culture techniques were applied for the continuous cultivation of two Chinese strains of Babesia bovis and B. bigemina, to determine the efficacy of antibabesial drugs. The efficacy of chloroquine phosphate was 25 times higher than that of berenil. Primaquine phosphate only partially reduced the parasitaemia. The results show that Chinese Babesia strains can be cultivated in vitro and that this culture system is useful for the screening of antibabesial drugs.