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Overwhelming Post-Splenectomy Infections in the Critical Care Unit
Published in Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha, Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Critical Care Medicine, 2020
Clearly, more severe babesiosis occurs in the immunocompromised host, especially the asplenic [28]. Indeed, the first cases of human babesiosis were reported in asplenic hosts. This tickborne intraerythrocytic parasite is spread by Ixodes ticks and can occur in individuals with other Ixodes-borne infections at the same time. Although in the United States most of the cases are reported from the northeast and upper Midwest, the geographic range of the tick and its reservoirs seems to be expanding related to climate change and deforestation [29]. Its presentation is usually either asymptomatic in the eusplenic host or as an influenza-like illness with fever and fatigue in the asplenic; however, Babesia infection can produce a severe febrile illness with significant hemolysis and end-organ disease, including acute renal injury, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and disseminated intravascular coagulation.
AIDS and other acquired immunodeficiencies
Published in Gabriel Virella, Medical Immunology, 2019
John W. Sleasman, Gabriel Virella
Splenectomy deserves special reference as a cause of immune depression. The removal of the spleen represents the loss of an important filtration organ, very important for the removal of circulating bacteria. In addition, the spleen plays a significant role in recruiting immunocytes in the initial phases of the immune responses. Splenectomized patients are weakly responsive to polysaccharides, and if we add this fact to the inability to remove bacteria, particularly those with polysaccharide capsules, from circulation it is easy to understand why splenectomized patients are prone to severe septicemia. The most commonly offending organisms include Streptococcus pneumoniae (50% of the cases), Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis—all of them pyogenic bacteria with antiphagocytic polysaccharide capsules. Other organisms involved as frequent causes of infection in splenectomized patients include Staphylococcus aureus and group A Streptococcus. It has also been demonstrated that about one-third of the cases of human infection by Babesia, an intracellular sporozoan, occur in splenectomized patients.
Parasites
Published in Victor A. Bernstam, Pocket Guide to GENE LEVEL DIAGNOSTICS in Clinical Practice, 2019
Babesiosis is a tick-transmitted infection caused by malaria-like parasites of the genus Babesia, which invade and destroy erythrocytes. The infrequent infections in humans are caused mostly by B. microti, although B. bovis and B. divergens also have been reported in humans.
Tick-borne disease (babesiosis)
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2021
Hanish Jain, Garima Singh, Rahul Mahapatra
Babesia infections range from asymptomatic to severe and are sometimes fatal.1 The severity of infection depends on the Babesia species and the immune status of the host.2 Babesiosis is a tick-borne disease that shares the Lyme disease tick vector. Other pathogens transmitted by Ixodes scapularis ticks include Borrelia burgdorferi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Borrelia miyamotoi, Borrelia mayonii, Powassan virus, and Ehrlichia muris–like agent. As many as two-thirds of patients with babesiosis experience concurrent Lyme disease, and one-third experience concurrent human granulocytic anaplasmosis.3B. microti is the predominant species that infects humans in the United States. The incubation period of B. microti infection following a tick bite is typically 1 to 4 weeks. This case highlights the importance of exchange transfusion in severe cases of babesiosis.
Global meta-analysis on Babesia infections in human population: prevalence, distribution and species diversity
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2022
Solomon Ngutor Karshima, Magdalene Nguvan Karshima, Musa Isiyaku Ahmed
All the authors (SNK, MNK and MIA) screened the title and abstract of each article and removed irrelevant and duplicate articles. Apparently relevant articles were further subjected to full text review for the identification and extraction of relevant information. A study was considered eligible only if it fulfill the following conditions: (i) it investigated human infections with Babesia species, (ii) was published in English, (iii) it stated numbers of positive cases and sample size, (iv) it stated study location, (v) was published until 31 August 2021, (vi) it stated the method of diagnosis used and (vii) it identified Babesia parasites to species level.
Severe babesiosis with associated splenic infarcts and asplenia
Published in Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings, 2021
Zachary A. Sporn, Andrew Z. Fenves, David B. Sykes, Hanny Al-Samkari
Given the known risk of warm autoimmune hemolytic anemia in patients without a spleen17 and lack of alternative explanation, our second patient’s hemolytic anemia was attributed to ongoing Babesia infection. Further work is needed to evaluate the mechanism of this Babesia-related autoimmune hemolysis, especially given the report of cases in the setting of an undetectable parasitemia despite ongoing hemolysis.17 Whether this antibody-mediated hemolysis targets antigens present on all RBCs, or the target antigens are present exclusively on infected RBCs, may have implications for future treatment regimens.