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Tick Bites
Published in Charles Theisler, Adjuvant Medical Care, 2023
Ticks get onto the skin, tend to move to a warm moist location, and then bite onto the skin to attach themselves. Next, they burrow into the skin and feed on blood. Ticks are most often found on the head, scalp, or neck. Most tick bites are painless and cause minor redness and swelling. However, some ticks can cause illness or infection such as Lyme disease, anaplasmosis/ehrlichiosis, spotted fever rickettsiosis, babesiosis, tularemia, and Powassan virus. A tick should be removed as soon as it is found to help prevent disease. Symptoms of weakness, paralysis, fever, lethargy, numbness, headache, or rash (especially an expanding rash) are reasons to seek medical care. According to the CDC, tick-borne diseases are increasing nationally.1
Ticks
Published in Jerome Goddard, Public Health Entomology, 2022
Babesiosis. Human babesiosis is a tick-borne disease primarily associated with two protozoa of the family Piroplasmordia: Babesia microti and Babesia divergens, although other newly recognized species may also cause human infection. In 2018, there were 2,160 cases of human babesiosis reported in the United States.4 The disease is a malaria-like syndrome characterized by fever, fatigue, and hemolytic anemia lasting from several days to a few months. In terms of clinical manifestations, babesiosis may vary widely, from asymptomatic infection to a severe, rapidly fatal disease.
Severe Tick-Borne Infections and Their Mimics in the Critical Care Unit
Published in Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha, Infectious Diseases and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Critical Care Medicine, 2020
Praveen Sudhindra, Gary P. Wormser
A peripheral Giemsa- or Wright-stained thin and thick blood smear should be obtained when babesiosis is suspected (Figure 9.3). Real-time polymerase chain reaction performed on whole blood is highly sensitive and specific and can be useful in early disease, when parasites are difficult to visualize on a smear [5,11].
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.
Babesiosis as a cause of acute respiratory distress syndrome: a series of eight cases
Published in Postgraduate Medicine, 2019
Silvia Alvarez De Leon, Priyasha Srivastava, Alberto E. Revelo, Aparna Kadambi, Marc Y. El Khoury, Gary P. Wormser, Oleg Epelbaum
A total of 22 patients were treated in the WMC MICU with a confirmed diagnosis of babesiosis over the >8 year study period. Of these, eight (36.4%; 95% CI: 19.7–57.0%) also fulfilled all four Berlin definition criteria for ARDS, including the timing criterion: onset ≤7 days following respiratory symptoms or a credible clinical insult such as the diagnosis of babesiosis or initiation of anti-babesial therapy. This group consisted of five women and three men. Six of the eight (75%) initially presented to hospital without respiratory complaints. All but one were older than 50 years of age (range 36–81 years). The youngest patient (#1), a 36-year-old man with sickle cell disease receiving monthly exchange blood transfusions, was the only person who developed babesiosis with ARDS during a non-summer month (October). The possibility of acquisition of infection by blood transfusion was entertained in this case, but the necessary information to confirm this hypothesis was not available to the authors. This patient also had secondary hemochromatosis complicated by liver cirrhosis. Two other patients had a potentially immunocompromising illness. One patient had a history of traumatic splenectomy and another had chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Six of the eight patients were transferred from community hospitals, and in six of eight cases the primary reason for MICU admission was respiratory failure. Additional demographic and historical information about the study patients, including significant comorbidities, is found in Table 2.
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
Eight Babesia species (B. bigemina, B. bovis, B. crassa-like, B. divergens, B. duncani, B. microti B. odocoilei and B. venatorum) were reported in humans from 22 countries of the world, with the highest prevalence in Europe. Babesia microti had the widest geographic distribution across the globe and was predominantly reported from the North America. To control this emerging zoonosis, we suggest the control of tick vectors around human settlements, the use of repellants and appropriate protective clothing by occupationally exposed population. The screening of blood for this parasites will also reduce the risk of transfusion-associated babesiosis.