What is Babesiosis ?

Answer 1

An illness caused by the parasite Babesia which is transmitted from animals to humans by ticks. In the US, it is typically contracted in the Northeast or Midwest -- in southern New England or New York State and in Wisconsin or Minnesota. The signs and symptoms include fever, chills, sweating, myalgias (muscle aches), fatigue, hepatosplenomegaly (enlargement of the liver and spleen) and hemolytic anemia (anemia due to break-up of red cells). Symptoms typically occur after an incubation period of 1 to 4 weeks and can last several weeks. The disease is more severe in patients who are immunosuppressed, splenectomized (lack their spleen), or elderly. It can cause death. Treatment involves antibiotics, usually clindamycin and quinine.

Answer 2

Babesiosis is an intraerythrocytic parasitic infection caused by protozoa of the genus Babesia and transmitted through the bite of the Ixodes tick. The disease most severely affects patients who are elderly, immunocompromised, or have undergone splenectomy. In the United States, Babesiosis is usually an asymptomatic infection in healthy individuals.

Answer 3

Babesiosis, an infection by protozoans of the genus Babesia, is transmitted by hard-bodied ticks. Babesia microti and Babesia divergens have been identified in most human cases.
Although common in animals, babesiosis is rare in humans.
The causative organisms, parasites resembling those of malaria, invade and destroy erythrocytes, but differs from malaria parasites in several important ways. They are transmitted by ticks, make no pigment, produce no sexual forms, and have no exerythrocytic stage.
Babesia infect a variety of mammals including cattle, horses, and dogs.
The parasites are ingested by ticks when they feed on infected mammals, multiply in the intestinal epithelium of the ticks, and spread through the insect bodies. Image Link
The infective organisms are then transmitted in the saliva when the tick feeds again.
In Europe, most reported cases are due to B. divergens and occur in splenectomized patients. In the United States, B. microti is the agent most frequently identified (Northeast and Midwest), and can occur in non-splenectomized individuals. Two variants, have been reported in the U.S. states of Washington and California (WA1- type and related parasites) and Missouri (MO1).
After inoculation by the tick, Babesia invade erythrocytes, where they appear as ameboid, round, rod-shaped or irregularly shaped organisms.
They are 1 to 5 micrometer in diameter, and with the Giemsa stain have a blue cytoplasm and a mass of red chromatin.
Splenectomy and diabetes are predisposing factors.
The incubation period varies from 2 to 6 weeks and is followed by sudden onset of chills and fever, sometimes with muscle aches and pains, prostration, jaundice, dark urine, diarrhea, and vomiting.
The progressive invasion and destruction of red blood cells causes hemoglobinemia, hemoglobinuria, jaundice, and renal failure.
The disease is usually self-limited, but uncontrolled infections can be fatal.
Autopsies have found parasites in erythrocytes concentrated in congested capillaries of many organs, and especially in the hepatic sinusoids.
The diagnosis is made by identifying Babesia in thin blood films.
Parasitized erythrocytes may also be identified in tissue specimens.

Answer 4

Babesiosis (ba-be"ze-o'sis) Infection with Babesis (ba-be'ze-ah) agenus of protozoan parasites.
Babesiosis is infection with Babesia sp. Infections can be asymptomatic or produce a malaria-like illness with fever and hemolytic anemia. Disease is most severe in asplenic patients, the elderly, and those with AIDS. Diagnosis is by identifying Babesia in a peripheral blood smear, serology, or PCR. Treatment, when needed, is with azithromycin plus atovaquone or with quinine plus clindamycin.
Please see the webpages for more details on Babesiosis.

Answer 5

1. any of various tickborne diseases due to infection with protozoa of the genus Babesia, occurring in wild animals, in domestic animals including cattle, horses, sheep, goats, pigs, cats, and dogs, and in humans as a zoonosis. 2. human infection with species of Babesia, particularly B. divergens and B. ...

Also:Babesiosis is a parasitic disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Babesia, which belongs to the phylum Apicomplexa. While more than 100 species have been reported, only a few have been identified as causing human infections. Babesia microti and Babesia divergens have been identified in most human cases, but variants (considered different species) have been recently identified. ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesiosis

Answer 6

babesiosis-A rare usually self limiting disease caused by an intraerythrocytic protazoan. The disease is transmitted by deer ticks, and occurs most often in New England. Rarely the infection is spread by blood transfusion. Incubation lasts from weeks to months. Not LYme Disease-symptoms are similiar

Answer 7

Babesiosis is a rare and severe tick-borne disease. it can cause MALARIA-LIKE symptoms.Signs of babesiosis usually range from no symptoms at all (asymptomatic) to serious disease. Common symptoms include extreme fatigue, aches, fever, chills, sweating, dark urine, and possibly anemia. People who are infected generally make a full recovery as long as they have a healthy spleen and do not have other diseases that prevent them from fighting off infections.

Answer 8

Background: Babesiosis is a tick-borne malarialike illness caused by species of the intraerythrocytic protozoan Babesia. Humans are opportunistic hosts for Babesia when bitten by nymph or adult ticks. Babesiosis is named for Victor Babes, who first identified the RBC protozoan in 1888. Babes noticed intraerythrocytic protozoa in cattle with febrile hemoglobinuria. In 1893, Smith and Kilbourne discovered that the protozoa was transmitted by ticks and was the cause of Texas cattle fever. In 1957, the first human case of babesiosis, in a Yugoslavian cattle farmer, was described. In the United States, the first case was reported from Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1969.

Currently, Babesia infection transmitted by various tick vectors occurs in Europe, Asia, and the northwestern and northeastern United States.

The primary Babesia species infecting cattle are Babesia divergens, Babesia bigemina, Babesia bovis, and Babesia major. In horses, the main species of Babesia is Babesia equi. Babesia canis is the primary species in dogs, and Babesia felis is the main species in cats. Babesia microti is the species found in mice.


Pathophysiology: The clinical signs and symptoms of babesiosis are related to the parasitism of RBCs by Babesia. Fever, hemolytic anemia, and hemoglobinuria may result from Babesia infection. As with malaria, capillary blockage/microvascular stasis may occur as a result of RBC fragments, which explains liver, splenic, renal, and central nervous system (CNS) involvement. With malaria, cells of the reticuloendothelial system (RES) in the spleen remove damaged RBC fragments from the circulation. RBC destruction results in hemolytic anemia.

Babesiosis elicits a B-lymphocyte response and a T-lymphocyte response. As with malaria, a T-cell–mediated cellular immunity is the primary immune response, and a secondary reactive polyclonal hypergammaglobulinemia occurs because of excessive B-lymphocyte reactivity.


Frequency:


In the US: Babesiosis is frequent in endemic areas of the northeastern and northwestern United States, particularly Long Island, New York, and Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Internationally: Babesiosis occurs in areas of Europe and Asia, where the tick vector and vertebrate host reside.
Mortality/Morbidity:

Babesiosis in otherwise healthy hosts produces an acute infectious disease resembling malaria. Fatalities are uncommon in patients with normal splenic function.
Patients who are asplenic have a more fulminant and prolonged clinical course and may have overwhelming infection and a fatal outcome.
Race:

No race predilection exists.
Sex:

No sex predilection exists.
Age:

Persons of any age can be affected.

Answer 9

Babesiosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease