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Friday, October 12, 2018

Babesiosis, in color

Symptoms of human babesiosis are frequently crippling and disabling and rival those caused by Lyme borreliosis. Antibody testing is available for 2 species, B. microti and B. duncani. 
The most common species might be: Babesia species (unknown). 

Common symptoms of babesiosis include:  Night sweats, persistent low grade fevers, air hunger and becoming more emotional.  

Treatment can be challenging.  I think we are getting better at eradicating it with changing, complex approaches. 

Blood Giemsa staining frequently allows us a close up look.  We are able to provide the test in our CLIA blood parasitology lab.  All of these slides (images by me) from patient blood samples show pleomorphic variations of the red blood cell parasite/protozoan.