Babesiosis--a dangerous infection for splenectomized children and adults

Abstract

Babesiosis is a world-wide distributed protozoal zoonosis, and Babesia spp. are the most ubiquitous of the blood parasites of mammals, except the trypanosomes. The tick-transmitted protozoa infect various vertebrate reservoir hosts, like rodents, cattle and horses. Approximately 100 million cattle is exposed to the disease. In tropical and subtropical regions the infection causes considerable losses in livestock industry, but clinical cases of human babesiosis in these areas have not certainly been identified. In 1957, the first case of human babesiosis in an asplenic Yugoslav farmer was reported (35). Hitherto, hundreds of cases of human babesiosis in adults and children from Europe and the U.S., with a broad range of clinical presentations, have been published (3, 4, 38). Most of the patients suffer from mild to moderate symptoms, whereas in asplenic individuals a fatal course of the infection prevails. Tick-bites in areas where human babesiosis occurs--mainly parts of Europe and the USA--can result in a deadly illness for persons without a spleen. The effect of treatment in splenectomized patients and when treatment is delayed, still is poor.