Babesiosis or piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a Babesia or Theileria, in the phylum Apicomplexa.[2] Human babesiosis transmission via tick bite is most common in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and parts of Europe, and sporadic throughout the rest of the world. It occurs in warm weather.[3] People can get infected with Babesiaparasites by the bite of an infected tick, by getting a blood transfusion from an infected donor of blood products, or by congenital transmission (an infected mother to her baby).[4] Ticks transmit the human strain of babesiosis, so it often presents with other tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease.[5] After trypanosomes, Babesia is thought to be the second-most common blood parasite of mammals. They can have major adverse effects on the health of domestic animals in areas without severe winters. In cattle the disease is known as Texas cattle fever or redwater.[6]
Half of all children and a quarter of previously healthy adults with Babesia infection are asymptomatic. When people do develop symptoms, the most common are fever and hemolytic anemia, symptoms that are similar to those of malaria.[5] People with symptoms usually become ill 1 to 4 weeks after the bite, or 1 to 9 weeks after transfusion of contaminated blood products. A person infected with babesiosis gradually develops malaise and fatigue, followed by a fever. Hemolytic anemia, in which red blood cells are destroyed and removed from the blood, also develops. Chills, sweats, and thrombocytopenia are also common symptoms. Symptoms may last from several days to several months.
Little is known about the occurrence of Babesia species in malaria-endemic areas, where Babesia can easily be misdiagnosed as Plasmodium. Human patients with repeat babesiosis infection may exhibit premunity.[8]
Babesia species are in the phylum Apicomplexa, which also has the protozoan parasites that cause malaria, toxoplasmosis, and cryptosporidiosis.[5] Four clades of Babesia species infect humans. The main species in each clade are:
- B. microti (<3 Āµm)
- B. duncani
- B. divergens (cattle parasite seen mostly in Europe) and B. venatorum (roe deer parasite, formerly called EU1), most closely related to the large Babesia clade
- Large Babesia (>3 Āµm) mostly infects ungulates, but also includes K01 strain (an isolated case observed in South Korea, see isolated cases)
Babesia parasites reproduce in red blood cells, where they can be seen as cross-shaped inclusions (four merozoites asexually budding, but attached together forming a structure looking like a "Maltese cross")[9]and cause hemolytic anemia, quite similar to malaria.
Unlike the Plasmodium parasites that cause malaria, Babesia species lack an exoerythrocytic phase, so the liver is usually not affected.
The disease is named for the genus of the causative organism,[32] which was named after the Romanian bacteriologist Victor BabeČ.[33] In 1888, Victor BabeČ identified the microorganisms in red blood cells as the cause of febrile hemoglobinuria in cattle.[5]In 1893, Theobald Smith and Frederick Kilborne discovered that a tick was the vector for transmission in Texas cattle. The agent was B. bigemina. This was the first demonstration that an arthropod could act as a disease vector to transmit an infectious agent to a vertebrate host.
In 1957, the first human case was documented in a splenectomized Croatian herdsman.[5] The agent was B. divergens. In 1969, the first case was reported in an immunocompetent individual on Nantucket Island. The agent was B. microti, and the vector was the tick I. scapularis.[citation needed] Equine babesiosis (caused by the protozoan Theileria equi) is also known as piroplasmosis (from the Latin piro, meaning pear + Greek plasma, a thing formed).[34]
Veterinary treatment of babesiosis does not normally use antibiotics. In nonhuman animals, diminazen (Berenil), imidocarb, or trypan blue would be the drugs of choice for treatment of B. canis rossi (dogs in Africa), B. bovis, and B. bigemina (cattle in Southern Africa). In acute cases in cattle, blood transfusion may be carried out.
A vaccine is effective against B. canis canis (dogs in the Mediterranean region), but is ineffective against B. c. rossi. B. imitanscauses a mild form of the disease that frequently resolves without treatment (dogs in Southeast Asia).
Equine babesiosis (caused by the protozoan Theileria equi) is also known as piroplasmosis (from the Latin piro, meaning pear + Greek plasma, a thing formed).[34]
| Babesiosis | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Babesiasis |
 | |
| Pronunciation |
|
| Specialty | Infectious disease |
| Symptoms | fever, chills, headache, fatigue[1] |
| Risk factors | Removed spleen, weakened immune system, doing outdoor activities[1] |
| Differential diagnosis | Malaria |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babesiosis
No comments:
Post a Comment