Studies on the in vitro cultivation of Babesia from buffaloes.

This paper summarizes a recent study on the in vitro cultivation of Babesia from buffaloes. Buffalo Babesia parasites were cultured many times by the microaerophilous stationary phase (MASP) method of Levy and Ristic (1980) with some modifications. The culture-derived Babesia organisms were similar to forms seen in the blood of infected buffaloes and the pathogenicity of these organisms was unchanged. Factors influencing the in vitro cultivation are discussed in detail.