Babesia... a co-infection of Lyme disease...

The Babesia parasite is considered to be an emerging infectious disease and is being found more and more in blood samples from countries around the world.  More concerning is a report of congenital Babesiosis.  Although considered a co-infection from a tick bite, it is closely related to the malaria parasite.  It finds its way to the red blood cells and makes itself at home there...  The Babesia parasite will interfere with the process of iron uptake by the red blood cells.  Where there is Babesia more often than not you will find Bartonella lurking.


Some of the symptoms of Babesia to look out for include:

Air hunger, Cough, Fatigue, Fevers, Headache, Imbalance without true vertigo, Mild encephalopathy, Shaking chills, Sweats

For more info on the symptoms you can read this webpage.http://www.anapsid.org/lyme/symptoms/tbi-symptoms.html


Abstract:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/8/11-0988_article.htm

"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 ofBabesia spp. antibodies in the heel-stick blood sample and confirmed by detection of Babesiaspp. DNA in placenta tissue."


" The mother was asymptomatic during and after her pregnancy. The infant was delivered vaginally and full term at 3,430 g without complications. The infant’s mother had visited parks in Westchester and Dutchess Counties in New York during the pregnancy but was unaware of any tick bites. The infant had no known tick exposure, and neither mother nor infant had a history of blood transfusion."

"This case provided convincing evidence for congenital babesiosis because of prepartum infection involving the placenta in the mother. On the basis of experience with congenital malaria, we assume that Babesia spp. parasites cross the placenta during pregnancy or at the time of delivery. In congenital malaria, increasing evidence suggests that the malaria parasites are most often acquired antenatally by transplacental transmission of infected erythrocytes."