Babesia microti explained

Babesia microti is a parasitic blood-borne piroplasm transmitted by deer ticks. B. microti is responsible for the disease babesiosis, a malaria-like disease which also causes fever and hemolysis.

Life cycle

The life cycle of B. microti includes human red blood cells and is an important transfusion-transmitted infectious organism. Between 2010 and 2014 it caused four out of fifteen (27%) fatalities associated with transfusion-transmitted microbial infections reported to the US FDA (the highest of any single organism).^[1] In 2018, the FDA approved an antibody-based screening test for blood and organ donors.^[2]

An important difference from malaria is that B. microti does not infect liver cells. Additionally, the piroplasm is spread by tick bites (Ixodes scapularis, the same tick that spreads Lyme disease), while the malaria protozoans are spread via mosquito. Finally, under the microscope, the merozoite form of the B. microti lifecycle in red blood cells forms a cross-shaped structure, often referred to as a "Maltese cross" or tetrad, in addition to intracellular "ring forms" which are also seen in the malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.).^[3]

Taxonomy

Until 2006 B. microti was thought to belong to the genus Babesia, as Babesia microti, until ribosomal RNA comparisons placed it in the sister genus Theileria.^{[4] [5]}, the medical community still classified the parasite as Babesia microti^[6] though its genome showed it does not belong to either Babesia or Theileria.

Genomics

The genome of Babesia microti has been sequenced and published.^[7]

The mitochondrial genome is circular.^[7]

Vaccine

In May 2010, it was reported that a vaccine to protect cattle against East Coast fever had been approved and registered by the governments of Kenya, Malawi and Tanzania.^[8]

A vaccine to protect humans has yet to be approved.^[9]

External links

• Babesia microti Minnesota Department of Health

Notes and References

1. Fatalities Reported to FDA Following Blood Collection and Transfusion: Annual Summary for Fiscal Year 2014 . U.S. Food and Drug Administration . . . https://web.archive.org/web/20150906020905/https://www.fda.gov/downloads/BiologicsBloodVaccines/SafetyAvailability/ReportaProblem/TransfusionDonationFatalities/UCM459461.pdf. 6 September 2015.
2. Approval Letter -Babesia microti AFIA/Babesia microti AFIA for Blood Donor Screening. 6 March 2018. U.S. Food and Drug Administration . BLA/ STN#125589. 20 March 2018. Verdun N, Malarkey MA .
3. Book: Goldberg S . Clinical Microbiology made Ridiculously Simple. 4th . 2007 . Medmaster. 978-0-940780-21-7.
4. Uilenberg G, Goff WL . Polyphasic taxonomy . Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences . 1081 . 1 . 492–497 . October 2006 . 17135557 . 10.1196/annals.1373.073 . 38312613 . 2006NYASA1081..492U .
5. Uilenberg G . Babesia--a historical overview . Veterinary Parasitology . 138 . 1–2 . 3–10 . May 2006 . 16513280 . 10.1016/j.vetpar.2006.01.035 .
6. Vannier E, Krause PJ . Human babesiosis . The New England Journal of Medicine . 366 . 25 . 2397–2407 . June 2012 . 22716978 . 10.1056/NEJMra1202018 .
7. Cornillot E, Hadj-Kaddour K, Dassouli A, Noel B, Ranwez V, Vacherie B, Augagneur Y, Brès V, Duclos A, Randazzo S, Carcy B, Debierre-Grockiego F, Delbecq S, Moubri-Ménage K, Shams-Eldin H, Usmani-Brown S, Bringaud F, Wincker P, Vivarès CP, Schwarz RT, Schetters TP, Krause PJ, Gorenflot A, Berry V, Barbe V, Ben Mamoun C . 6 . Sequencing of the smallest Apicomplexan genome from the human pathogen Babesia microti . Nucleic Acids Research . 40 . 18 . 9102–9114 . October 2012 . 22833609 . 3467087 . 10.1093/nar/gks700 .
8. Florin-Christensen M, Suarez CE, Rodriguez AE, Flores DA, Schnittger L . Vaccines against bovine babesiosis: where we are now and possible roads ahead . Parasitology . 141 . 12 . 1563–1592 . July 2014 . 25068315 . 10.1017/S0031182014000961 . 34025694 . 11336/35696 . free .
9. Puri A, Bajpai S, Meredith S, Aravind L, Krause PJ, Kumar S . Babesia microti: Pathogen Genomics, Genetic Variability, Immunodominant Antigens, and Pathogenesis . Frontiers in Microbiology . 12 . 697669 . 2021 . 34539601 . 8446681 . 10.3389/fmicb.2021.697669 . free .