Overwhelming Post-Splenectomy Infections in the Critical Care Unit
Cheston B. Cunha, Burke A. Cunha in 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.
Comparative aspects of the tick–host relationship: immunobiology, genomics and proteomics
G. F. Wiegertjes, G. Flik in Host-Parasite Interactions, 2004
Typically, tick larval stages acquire pathogens while feeding on infected rodents. The micro-organisms are then transmitted from one life stage to the next (trans-stadially) or from generation to generation (transovarially), thus acting as reservoirs for that pathogen (Walker, 1998). After larvae moult into nymphs, they transmit pathogens when they feed on other rodents or humans. The first report of a tick-borne infectious disease was the description of the transmission of the aetiologic agent of Texas cattle fever, Babesia bigemina, by the metastriate tick Boophilus annulatus (Smith and Kilbourne, 1893). Babesia organisms are protozoan parasites that replicate in host erythrocytes causing a malaria-like illness. In eastern and midwestern United States, human babesiosis is caused predominantly by Babesia microti, a piroplasm transmitted by Ixodes scapularis, also the vector tick for Lyme borreliosis and human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (HGE). In Europe, the major cause of human babesiosis is the bovine pathogen Babesia divergens, and the tick Ixodes ricinus has been identified as the vector for this human infection (Kjemtrup and Conrad, 2000).
Microbiological Diagnosis of Parasitic Diseases
Nancy Khardori in Bench to Bedside, 2018
Besides intestinal infections, infections due to haemo-parasites, is the other common and important group of parasitic infections. A number of parasites have at least some of the stages in their life-cycle passing through blood. These stages may be demonstrated by examination of blood specimens, either using whole blood or after concentration procedures. Some of the important blood parasites include Plasmodium spp., Trypanosoma spp., Babesia spp., Leishmania donovanii, and microfilariae of some filarial nematodes. For most of these parasites, examination of stained thin and thick peripheral blood films is considered to be the most useful and recommended diagnostic technique. The blood films may be prepared directly from the specimens, specimens with anti-coagulant, or from concentrated blood specimens. The most preferred stains used are Romanowsky’s stains and include Giemsa, Wright’s, Field’s, and Leishman’s stain.
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
Zoonotic babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne protozoan disease caused by intraerythrocytic parasites of the genus Babesia, family Babesiidae, order Piroplasmorida and phylum Apicomplexa. The disease is predominantly caused by three parasites namely; Babesia divergens, B. microti and B. venatorum and transmitted by tick vectors. Although these zoonotic Babesia species are capable of infecting a wide range of vertebrate hosts across the globe, they require competent vertebrates and arthropod vectors; particularly ticks to complete their life cycle [1]. The sexual stage of the life cycle occurs in the tick vectors while the asexual stage occurs within the erythrocytes of the vertebrate host [2,3].
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.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Amoeba
- Babesiosis
- Bacteriologist
- DNA Sequencing
- Splenectomy
- Tick
- Hemolysis
- Pathogen
- Apicomplexan Life Cycle
- Disease Vector