December 22, 2020 By Josh Babcock, College of Veterinary Medicine For decades, researchers have tried to develop an effective vaccine for Babesia bovis, a tick-borne disease that annually kills millions of cattle worldwide. According to research recently published in the International Journal for Parasitology, scientists at the Agricultural Research Service-United States Department of Agriculture and Washington State University may finally know where to start. USDA-ARS tick-borne disease experts Drs Massaro Ueti and Carlos Suarez and support scientist Carl Johnson, in collaboration with WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine, have identified which genes may be critically important to the survival and spread of the disease in ticks and mammals.