Japanese healthy donor transmitted case of Babesiosis:

PubMed search: Babesi*+Japan:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Babesi*+Japan

PubMed search Babesi*+Japan+donor:  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Babesi*+Japan+donor

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Rinsho Ketsueki. 2000 Aug;41(8):628-34.

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[First documentation of transfusion-associated babesiosis in Japan]

[Article in Japanese]

Matsui T, Inoue R, Kajimoto K, Tamekane A, Okamura A, Katayama Y, Shimoyama M, Chihara K, Saito-Ito A, Tsuji M.

Department of Medicine, Kobe University School of Medicine.

A 40-year-old man received blood transfusion in December 1998 because of gastric bleeding from a peptic ulcer. One month later, he developed febrile hemolytic anemia. Administration of high doses of glucocorticoid significantly reduced the hemolysis, but did not cure the disease. To investigate the cause of the hemolysis, the patient was transferred to our hospital in May 1999. Giemsa-stained peripheral blood smears showed Babesia parasites in the red blood cells (RBC), and PCR analysis confirmed the presence of Babesia microti DNA. The parasitemia disappeared hematologically after 2 weeks of quinine and clindamycin therapy. However, parasite DNA was still detectable in the RBC. Although treatment with oral atovaquone was given for 2 weeks, parasitemia and febrile hemolysis recurred within a month after the last treatment. Fortunately, complete remission was obtained after a second 12-week course of therapy with quinine and clindamycin. PCR analysis revealed asymptomatic Babesia infection in one of eight samples from the original blood donor. The initial steroid therapy given to the patient without an accurate diagnosis seemed to have delayed augmentation of the specific antibodies (IgG) against Babesia microti, thus prolonging the parasitemia after the initial acute stage of babesiosis.

Publication Types:

·     Case Reports


PMID: 11020989 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

 

J Clin Microbiol. 2000 Dec;38(12):4511-6.

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Transfusion-acquired, autochthonous human babesiosis in Japan: isolation of Babesia microti-like parasites with hu-RBC-SCID mice.

Saito-Ito A, Tsuji M, Wei Q, He S, Matsui T, Kohsaki M, Arai S, Kamiyama T, Hioki K, Ishihara C.

Department of Medical Zoology, Kobe 650-0017, School of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno-gakuen University, Ebetsu 069-8501, Japan.

We have isolated piroplasms from a patient who developed the first case of human babesiosis in Japan by using NOD/shi-scid mice whose circulating erythrocytes (RBCs) had been replaced with human RBCs (hu-RBC-SCID mice). Following inoculation of the patient's blood specimen into hu-RBC-SCID mice, parasites proliferated within the human RBCs in the mice, resulting in a high level of parasitemia. Parasite DNA was prepared from blood samples of the patient and the mice, and the nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced. Both DNA samples gave rise to identical sequences which showed the highest degree of homology (99.2%) with the Babesia microti rDNA. Because the patient had received a blood transfusion before the onset of babesiosis, we investigated the eight donors who were involved. Their archived blood samples were analyzed for specific antibody and parasite DNA; only a single donor was found to be positive by both tests, and the parasite rDNA sequence from the donor coincided with that derived from the patient.
The donor's serum exhibited a high antibody titer against the isolate from the patient, whereas it exhibited only a weak cross-reaction against B. microti strains isolated in the United States. We conclude that the first Japanese babesiosis case occurred due to a blood transfusion and that the etiological agent is an indigenous Japanese parasite which may be a geographical variant of B. microti. Our results also demonstrated the usefulness of hu-RBC-SCID mice for isolation of parasites from humans and for maintenance of the parasite infectivity for human RBCs.

PMID: 11101588 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

 

J Clin Microbiol. 2001 Jun;39(6):2178-83.

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Human babesiosis in Japan: isolation of Babesia microti-like parasites from an asymptomatic transfusion donor and from a rodent from an area where babesiosis is endemic.

Wei Q, Tsuji M, Zamoto A, Kohsaki M, Matsui T, Shiota T, Telford SR 3rd, Ishihara C.

School of Veterinary Medicine, Rakuno-Gakuen University, 582-1 Bunkyodai-Midorima-chi, Ebetsu 069-8501, Japan.

To determine the source of infection for the Japanese index case of human babesiosis, we analyzed blood samples from an asymptomatic individual whose blood had been transfused into the patient. In addition, we surveyed rodents collected from near the donor's residence.
Examination by microscopy and PCR failed to detect the parasite in the donor's blood obtained 8 months after the donation of the blood that was transfused. However, we were able to isolate Babesia parasites by inoculating the blood sample into SCID mice whose circulating red blood cells (RBCs) had been replaced with human RBCs. A Babesia parasite capable of propagating in human RBCs was also isolated from a field mouse (Apodemus speciosus) captured near the donor's residential area. Follow-up surveys over a 1-year period revealed that the donor continued to be asymptomatic but had consistently high immunoglobulin G (IgG) titers in serum and low levels of parasitemia which were microscopically undetectable yet which were repeatedly demonstrable by inoculation into animals. The index case patient's sera contained high titers of IgM and, subsequently, rising titers of IgG antibodies, both of which gradually diminished with the disappearance of the parasitemia. Analysis of the parasite's rRNA gene (rDNA) sequence and immunodominant antigens revealed the similarity between donor and patient isolates. The rodent isolate also had an rDNA sequence that was identical to that of the human isolates but that differed slightly from that of the human isolates by Western blot analysis. We conclude that the index case patient acquired infection by transfusion from a donor who became infected in Japan, that parasitemia in an asymptomatic carrier can persist for more than a year, and that A. speciosus serves as a reservoir of an agent of human babesiosis in Japan.

PMID: 11376054 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]