[Autochthonous babesiosis in dogs in the Netherlands?]

For the first time cases of babesiosis have been diagnosed in dogs that had not been abroad. Three cases were seen in the province of Gelderland (Bennekom, Elspeet), two in North-Holland (Koog aan de Zaan). A female Dermacentor reticulatus tick, the main vector of the disease in Europe, was found on one of the dogs at Koog; previously specimens of this tick species had only occasionally been seen on dogs returning from abroad. Serological evidence was obtained that in at least four of the cases European Babesia canis, transmitted by Dermacentor ticks, was involved.