A study was conducted in 2008 to determine the prevalence of Anaplasma and Babesia
infections in cattle in the Puntarenas Province of Costa Rica. Blood samples were taken from
a total of 449 cattle during the month of March at 30 farms in the region of Espiritu Santu,
Costa Rica. Commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) were
used to determine presence of antibodies to Babesia bigemina and Anaplasma marginale,
and real-time PCR was used to determine the presence of DNA from the disease-causing
organisms. The ELISA results indicated that 87.5% of the cattle sampled were positive for
antibodies to A. marginale, while 59.1% were positive for antibodies to B. bigemina. The realtime
PCR results showed that 235 cattle were carrying A. marginale DNA (56.9%), 6 with B.
bigemina DNA (1.34%), and 2 with B. bovis DNA (0.45%).