BABESIA Flashcards
BABESIA SPP. WAS NAMED AFTER ___________ a Romanian scientist, who described symptoms of severe enzootic hemoglobinuria
Dr. Viktor Babes
BABESIOSI WAS FIRST DOCUMENTED IN?
CATTLES AND SHEEPS
BABESIA SPP MOT
Blood transfusion, organ transplantation and transplacental route
OTHER NAMES FOR BABESIOSIS?
- Tick fever
- Splenic fever
- Nontucker fever
- Apicomplexan parasites
- Heteroxenous parasite
- Tick-borne malaria-like illness in domestic and wild animals
- Largely host specific
- Tendency to take on pleomorphic forms in different host
Babesia spp.
Two babesial organisms most commonly isolated from clinical specimens:
- Babesia microti (Theileria microti)
- Babesia divergens
o Close relative of Babesia spp.
o Infect red blood cells (RBCs) are generally smaller and can easily be misidentified
Theileria sp.
Known biological host of Babesia
HARD TICKS (Family Ixodidae)
Transmission of Babesia by soft tick is __________ has been reported
Ornithodoros erraticus
o Generally transmitted through a bite of an infected tick of the genus
o associated with the transmission to humans of the rodent B. microti and the cattle forms of Babesia
Ixodes spp
MORPHOLOGY
o Resembles a ring, lacking Schüffner ‘ s, Ziemann ‘ s, or Maurer ‘ s dots.
o Appears as a blue circular shape connected to a red chromatin dot when stained with Giemsa. Typically includes a vacuole.
o Pleomorphism
Babesia spp. Trophozoite
MORPHOLOGY
o Resembles a MALTESE CROSS, formed 4 trophozoites attached by their chromatin dots.
Babesia spp. Merozoite
also known as vertical, or hereditary, transmission
Transovarial transmission
- Etiologic Agent of human babesiosis
- Reservoir Hosts: White-footed mouse (Peromyscus leucopus) Vector: Ticks (Ixodes scapularis
Babesia microti
- Primary Host: Cattle Vector: Ticks (Ixodes ricinus)
- Zoonotic: Can be transmitted from cattle to humans
Babesia divergens
