Babesiosis
Babesiosis is infection of red blood cells caused by the one-celled parasite Babesia.
Babesiosis is transmitted by the same deer tick that transmits Lyme disease. Although infection in animals is common, people are rarely infected. In the United States, babesiosis usually affects people on the offshore islands or coastal regions of New York and Massachusetts. It also occurs in Europe.
Babesia lives inside red blood cells and eventually destroys them, producing fever, headache, and muscle aches. Anemia may result from the breakdown of red blood cells.
In people whose spleen has been removed, the risk of severe disease and death is high. In these people, babesiosis resembles malaria (causing a high fever, anemia, dark urine, jaundice, and kidney failure). A person with a functioning spleen usually has a mild illness that disappears on its own without treatment.
To diagnose babesiosis, a doctor examines a blood sample under a microscope. Treatment consists of taking quinine and clindamycin; an alternative combination is atovaquone plus azithromycin.
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