Babesia: an example of failed “evidence based medicine.”

When I was a 3rd year med student, some 33 years ago, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Medicine, as practiced at that time would have understood we are in the midst of a devastating epidemic. Medicine, as an art, was practiced in a slower, more methodical fashion - when MRI machines, managed care, the debasement of physicians as “providers” and “evidence based medicine” were not on the horizon. In an era devoid of CT scanners patients were admitted to hospitals for diagnostic evaluation - old fashioned tools (and emerging technology) were at least equal partners. The new and improved practice of medicine is “evidence based,” which encompasses the opinions of experts as evidence. Evidence is not truth. Evidence relates to facts or interpretations of facts. Inevitably, the “truth” hinges on which evidence one chooses to consider. Medicine is ever evolving: the state of the art is always a moving target. The clinical practice of medicine should consider evidence from a wide variety of sources. Studies in laboratory animals is evidence. The clinical experience of many patients and physicians is evidence; and published studies are evidence. In the final analysis: medicine is still at its core, a healing art; it is not a science. When I was a medical student a patient suffering with multiple complaints: fatigue, fevers, sweats, headaches, shortness of breath, joint and muscle pain, numbness and tingling, mental changes, hallucinations - would be seen as sick - not crazy, because of a life-long relationship with a personal physician who knew the patient well. Patterns would be uncovered with many patients admitted to hospitals with overlapping features. I think blood would have been examined by non-rushed, hospital employed pathologists looking for parasitic illness: a basic tool. Malaria-like parasites within red blood cells would be seen: Babesia species. In “Clinical Vaccine Immunology,” November 2010, the authors report that evidence of Babesia duncani was found in 2% of blood donor samples and 27% of clinical samples. B. duncani was found to be distributed throughout the United States, including my state of Maryland. Contrary to dictum, Babesia microti was found much less frequently. In the Medscape “peer reviewed” reference, April, 2012, “Drugs, Disease and Procedures,” Dr. Cunha,and colleagues provide a topical summary of Babesiosis. Other, CDC accepted species of Babesia, MO1, CA1 and Divergens have been shown to cause human disease in the United States for which do not test at all. In Europe, human disease is associated with various species, including B. bovis, once only known as a cattle disease. (B. divergens, also from cattle, is the predominant agent). The authors report B. microti and “B.microti-like agents” in Europe causing human disease. At least one unknown Babesia species has been linked to human disease. Over 100 species of Babesia are known to exist. The 27% number for B.duncani presented above, may represent only be the tip of the iceberg. Currently used high tech procedures: IFA, PCR, FISH are of limited diagnostic value. The definitive diagnosis of Babesiosis hinges on the observation of organisms seen in a fresh (less than an hour old) meticulously stained blood smear, carefully screened by an experienced observer; numerous fields, over 100 must frequently be screened. Degraded blood smears examined by busy, mill lab techs are of no value. Bartonella are much easier: species jump off the slide as soon as you look. In bygone days, physicians used the tools readily available: a tuning fork, a stethoscope, a microscope and something else, much more important - our brains. In this day and age of “evidence based medicine,” where medicine is considered a science; where limited studies(which are not science) are taken out of context, the results of which unreasonably generalized; where physicians work on corporate/HMO time clocks; where the autonomy of individual physicians has been relinquished to “the experts;” where doctors are encouraged not to think for themselves; where medicine has become a job, not a calling; where the art of medicine has been tossed out like the proverbial baby in the bath water - much is lost. Discoveries which might otherwise be clear, are lost in the muddied waters of “mainstream” medicine, blinded by a dysfunctional system and by its own arrogance.