Babesia revisited

Lab testing is unreliable. Antibodies against Babesia strains are considered very significant by most Lyme doctors but dismissed by infectious disease specialists. The IDSA paradigm looks only at acute Babesiosis while the ILADS paradigm considers Babesia infection as part of the Lyme disease complex associated with chronic Lyme disease. Some patients report that they only improved after intensive treatment for Babesia. The best indicator is a pattern of symptoms. Patient with this co-infection have recurrent chills, fevers, malaise or flu like symptoms. Other patients are those with more typical Lyme symptoms who have not responded to Lyme therapy as expected. Treatment normally should not be for more than two to four months. There may be exceptions. In addition to Mepron and Zithromax, many patients and doctors report that the herbal supplement, Artemesia is very effective. Babesia should be considered in the treatment of Lyme patients but I still feel the focus should be Lyme.