Babesia bovis

Babesia bovis is an Apicomplexan single-celled parasite of cattle which occasionally infects humans. The disease it and other members of the genus Babesia cause is a hemolytic anemia known as babesiosis and colloquially called Texas cattle fever, redwater or piroplasmosis. It is transmitted by bites from infected larval ticks of the order Ixodida. It was eradicated from the United States by 1943, but is still present in Mexico and much of the world's tropics. The chief vector of Babesia species is the southern cattle fever tick Rhipicephalus microplus (formerly Boophilus microplus).

This parasite is predominantly found in tropical and subtropical regions, including Latin America, Africa, Australia, and parts of Asia. Its zoonotic potential is limited but significant, as rare cases of human infections have been reported, primarily in immunocompromised individuals, such as splenectomized patients. Recent studies have documented sporadic human cases, though the actual prevalence remains unclear.

In 2007, the sequence of its genome was announced. Measuring 8.2 million base pairs, its genome is remarkably similar to the genome of Theileria parva, the cause of East Coast fever (theileriosis) in cattle.