Immunoprophylaxis for bovine babesiosis has two presentations of a live attenuated vaccine (fresh and deep-frozen). Despite being effective, their durability, as well as the conditions necessary for their transfer and handling, make them impractical. The incorporation of a third presentation, using dehydrated merozoites as immunogens, constitutes an innovative alternative, which combines practicality and stability over time. The objective of this work was to test dehydration processes and cryopreservative and rehydrating substances. For this, erythrocytes highly parasitized with Babesia bovis and B. bigemina were subjected to two dehydration techniques: lyophilization and spray drying. In turn, for the lyophilization process, several lyoprotectants were tested: Dimethylsulfoxide, Glycerol, Dextrose and Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). The only one that achieved a properly dehydrated powder, c...

This work was supported by National Council for Science, Technology, and Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) – World Bank, through its executing unit National Fund for the Development of Science, Technology, and Technological Innovation (FONDECYT) contract [E033-01-08-2018-FONDECYT/Banco Mundial Programas de Doctorado en A´reas Estrate´gicas y Generales], Fogarty International Center-National Institutes of Health Training grant D43 TW001140, and by Intramural National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.