Transfusion-transmitted babesiosis in Washington State: first reported case caused by a WA1-type parasite

J Infect Dis. 1997 May;175(5):1259-62. doi: 10.1086/593812.

Abstract

Most cases of babesiosis reported in the United States have been tickborne and caused by Babesia microti, the etiologic agent of all previously described transfusion-transmitted cases. A 76-year-old man with the first recognized case of transfusion-transmitted infection with the recently identified WA1-type Babesia parasite is described. The subject received multiple blood transfusions in 1994. Indirect immunofluorescent antibody testing of serum from 57 blood donors implicated a 34-year-old man (WA1 titer, 1:65,536) whose donation had been used for packed red cells. Isolates of the organisms that infected the recipient and the donor, both of whom were spleen-intact residents of Washington State, were obtained by hamster inoculation. The DNA sequence of a 536-bp region of the nuclear small subunit-rRNA gene of both isolates was identical to that of WA1 (isolated in 1991 from the index WA1 case-patient). Effective measures for preventing transmission of babesiosis by blood transfusion are needed.

Publication types

  • Case Reports
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Animals
  • Antibodies, Protozoan / blood
  • Babesia / classification*
  • Babesia / genetics
  • Babesia / isolation & purification
  • Babesiosis / parasitology
  • Babesiosis / transmission*
  • Blood Donors*
  • Child
  • Cricetinae
  • DNA, Protozoan / chemistry
  • DNA, Protozoan / isolation & purification
  • DNA, Ribosomal / chemistry
  • DNA, Ribosomal / isolation & purification
  • Erythrocyte Transfusion*
  • Female
  • Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect
  • Humans
  • Male
  • RNA, Protozoan / genetics
  • Spleen
  • Washington

Substances

  • Antibodies, Protozoan
  • DNA, Protozoan
  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • RNA, Protozoan