Babesia spp. are apicomplexan parasites that infect a wide variety of animals, including humans, causing severe disease in domestic animals and human babesiosis.
Keywords: parasitology; apicomplexa; tick-transmitted disease; emerging disease
Babesiosis
Guy H Palmer, Washington State University, Washington, USA
Published online: May 2001
DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001945
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Figure 1. Current taxonomic classification of babesial parasites.
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Figure 2. The lifecycle of Babesia bovis requires a mammalian reservoir host and a tick vector. Boophilus microplus acquire the parasites in the blood meal and replication within the tick results in transovarial transmission and development of infectivity in the subsequent generation. Tick feeding on susceptible cattle results in transmission of sporozoites that initiate infection of the mature erythrocyte. Intraerythrocytic replication leads to sequential cycles of merozoite release and infection of additional erythrocytes, resulting in clinical disease.
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| References | |
| Brown WC and Palmer GH (1999) Designing blood-stage vaccines against Babesia bovis and B. bigemina. Parasitology Today 15: 275–281. | |
| Clark IA and Jacobsen LS (1998) Do babesiosis and malaria share a common disease process? Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 92: 483–488. | |
| Dobroszycki J, Herwaldt BL, Boctor F et al. (1999) A cluster of transfusion-associated babesiosis cases traced to a single asymptomatic donor. Journal of the American Medical Association 281: 927–930. | |
| Igarashi I, Suzuki R, Waki S et al. (1999) Roles of CD4+ T cells and gamma interferon in protective immunity against Babesia microti infection in mice. Infection and Immunity 67: 4143–4148. | |
| Krause PJ, Telford SR, Speilman A et al. (1996) Concurrent Lyme disease and babesiosis: evidence for increased severity and duration of illness. Journal of the American Medical Association 275: 1657–1660. | |
| Mehlhorn H and Schein E (1998) Redescription of Babesia equi Laveran 1901, as Theileria equi Mehlhorn, Schein 1998. Parasitology Research 84: 467–475. | |
| O'Connor RM, Lane TJ, Stroup SE and Allred DR (1997) Characterization of a variant erythrocyte surface antigen (VESA1) expressed by Babesia bovis during antigenic variation. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 89: 259–270. | |
| Persing DH and Conrad PA (1995) Babesiosis: new insights from phylogenetic analysis. Infectious Agents and Disease 4: 182–195. | |
| Pipano E (1995) Live vaccines against hemoparasitic diseases in livestock. Veterinary Parasitology 57: 213–231. | |
| book Ristic M and Kreier JP (eds) (1981) Babesiosis. New York: Academic Press. | |
| Rogers RJ, Dimmock CK, de Vos AJ and Rodwell BJ (1988) Bovine leucosis virus contamination of a vaccine produced in vivo against bovine babesiosis and anaplasmosis. Australian Veterinary Journal 65: 285–287. | |
| Further Reading | |
| Gelfand JA and Callahan MV (1998) Babesiosis. Current Clinical Topics in Infectious Diseases 18: 201–216. | |
| book Greene CE (1998) Infectious Diseases of the Dog and Cat, 2nd edn. Philadelphia: Saunders. | |
| book Kreier JP (1993) Parasitic Protozoa, vol. 5, 2nd edn. San Diego: Academic Press. | |
| book Losos GJ (1986) Infectious Tropical Diseases of Domestic Animals. Essex: Longman. | |
| book Ristic M and Kreier JP (eds) (1981) Babesiosis. New York: Academic Press.. | |
| book Ristic M (1988) Babesiosis of Domestic Animals and Man. Boca Raton: CRC Press. | |
| book Smith BP (1996) Large Animal Internal Medicine, 2nd edn. St Louis: Mosby. | |
| ePath College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Missouri. Babesia spp. [http://web.missouri.edu/~vmicrorc/Protozoa/Hemosporidians/Babesia.htm] | |
| ePath (ICTTD). Integrated Control of Ticks and Tick-borne Disease website [http://www.ruu.nl/tropical.ticks/index.htm] | |
| ePath The University of Rhode Island Tick Research Laboratory. Human Babesiosis [http://www.uri.edu/artsci/zool/ticklab/Babesia.html] | |
