Borrelia burgdorferi, the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, and Babesia microti, the causative agent of human babesiosis, were isolated from 71 and 57%, respectively, of 14 specimens of Peromyscus leucopus and Microtus pennsylvanicus collected from Prudence and Patience Islands, R.I. Both pathogens were isolated from five individual rodents. The presence of these two infectious organisms in the ...

1. Lobo CA, Cursino-Santos JR, Alhassan A, Rodrigues M. Babesia: an emerging infectious threat in transfusion medicine. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9:e1003387. http://dx.doi. org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1003387 2. Wormser GP, Prasad A, Neuhaus E, Joshi S, Nowakowski J, Nelson J, et al. Emergence of resistance to azithromycin-atovaquone in immunocompromised patients with Babesia microti infection. Clin Infec...

Babesia microti (Franca, 1909), an intraerythrocytic, ticktransmitted haemoprotozoan parasite is a common pathogen of free-living small mammals, particularly rodents. Babesiosis caused by this species of Babesia is gaining increasing interest as emerging zoonosis in humans (Parry M.F., Fox M., Burka S.A., Richar W.J. 1977: J. Am. Vet. Med. Assoc. 238: 1282– 1283; Homer M.J., Aguilar-Delfini, Te...

The intraerythrocytic apicomplexan Babesia microti, the primary causative agent of human babesiosis, is a major public health concern in the United States and elsewhere. Apicomplexans utilize a multiprotein complex that includes a type I membrane protein called apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) to invade host cells. We have isolated the full-length B. microti AMA1 (BmAMA1) gene and determined it...

Distribution of nymphal Ixodes scapularis in Rhode Island was used as a logistical regressor for predicting presence of human babesiosis. Although the incidence of babesiosis is increasing in southern Rhode Island, large areas of the state are free of babesiosis risk.

B. microti is known as the main etiological agent of human babesiosis and there are some case studies for that disease, highlighting the fact that this is an important “emerging tick-borne disease”. However a lot of information about this protist is unclear. The reactions in the liver are noticeable already after the fi rst three weeks of infection. This therefore provides the basis for discuss...

Babesiosis is usually acquired from a tick bite or through a blood transfusion. We report a case of babesiosis in an infant for whom vertical transmission was suggested by evidence of Babesia spp. antibodies in the heel-stick blood sample and confirmed by detection of Babesia spp. DNA in placenta tissue.

In Europe, the hard tick Ixodes ricinus is considered most important vector of human zoonotic diseases. Human pathogenic agents spread by I. in Sweden include Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (s.l.), Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Rickettsia helvetica, recently described Neoehrlichia mikurensis, miyamotoi, tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), and Babesia spp. (Babesia microti, venatorum divergens)....

BACKGROUND Babesiosis is an emerging tick-borne infection in humans. The increasing numbers of reported cases of transfusion-associated babesiosis (TAB), primarily caused by Babesia microti, represents a concern for the safety of the US blood supply. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS This study investigated kinetics of parasitemia and innate immune responses and dynamics of antibody responses during B...