Fig. 5

Passive immunization protects against B. microti infection in BALB/c mice induced by Bm8 antisera. a Detection of the copy number of B. microti gene in BALB/c mice on days 3, 6, 9 and 12 post infection by qRT-PCR. Asterisk indicates significance at *P ＜ 0.05 vs control serum group (t-test). b Parasitemia comparison in BALB/c mice infected with B. microti on days 3, 6, 9 and 12 post infection versus control group detected by microscopy. c Severity of mice babesiosis in mice receiving passive immunization with Bm8 polypeptides antisera versus those receiving control sera: i–iii changes in Hb level (i), body weight (ii) and body temperature (iii) in BALB/c mice challenge infection with B. microti on days 3, 6, 9 and 12 post infection. Asterisks indicate a significant difference vs control serum group at *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.01 (t-test). Bm8, B. microti protein 8; Hb, hemoglobin; qRT-PCR, real-time quantitative PCR; mRNA, messenger RNA; real-time quantitative PCR