Human babesiosis - a rare but potentially dangerous zoonosis

Abstract

Human babesiosis is caused by the intraerythrocytic parasite of the genus Babesia (phylum Apicomplexa). Humans are commonly infected by the bite of Ixodid ticks. Rarely, transmission does occur perinatal or via contaminated blood transfusion. There is only insufficient data available on the clinical relevance in Europe, whereas there are known endemic states in the United States with an increasing importance of the disease in transfusion medicine. The following article gives an overview of the situation in Germany. Human babesiosis is a zoonotic disease with a worldwide increasing importance according to the increasing number of immunocompromised patients. Clinical symptoms have a wide range from asymptomatic to severe and letal cases. So far, the detection of the parasites in ticks and seroepidemiological data in Europe identified 3 humanpathogenic species: B. microti, B. divergens und B. venatorum (EU1-3). The relative small number of approximately 50 documented human cases is probably due to the lack of knowledge of the disease and the availability of diagnostic tools. Comprehensive systematic investigations of the prevalence in ticks, seroepidemiological data and improved diagnostic tests are urgently needed to evaluate the importance of the parasite.