This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Shih, C. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, C. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Shih, C. M.
Right arrow Articles by Wang, C. C.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 02 1997, 450-454, Vol 35, No. 2
Copyright © 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Human babesiosis in Taiwan: asymptomatic infection with a Babesia microti-like organism in a Taiwanese woman

CM Shih, LP Liu, WC Chung, SJ Ong and CC Wang
Department of Parasitology and Tropical Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei Medical College, Taiwan, Republic of China.

An asymptomatic Babesia infection was confirmed by laboratory diagnoses. The intraerythrocytic protozoan (designed TW1) isolated from a 51-year-old Taiwanese woman appeared to be morphologically consistent with small-form piroplasm, and measurements indicated that it had a body size of 1.5 to 2.5 microm in diameter. The typical features of ring, binary, and tetrad forms were observed in Giemsa-stained thin blood smears. A persistent and low-grade parasitemia was established after hamster inoculation. Indirect immunofluorescent-antibody reactivities indicate that this strain (TW1) of Babesia was serologically related to, but not identical to, the Babesia species (B. microti) that infects rodents. Antibody titers in the patient's sera combined with the clinical symptoms suggested that the present case was a chronic and subclinical babesial infection. A neighborhood human serologic survey indicated that the infection may have been acquired accidentally from an infected rodent and localized within the same family. Indeed, rodents from areas around the neighborhood were trapped, and a high prevalence (83%) of babesial infection was observed. The possible vector responsible for the transmission remains to be identified.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Chao, L.-L., Wu, W.-J., Shih, C.-M. (2009). First Detection and Molecular Identification of Borrelia burgdorferi-like Spirochetes in Ixodes granulatus Ticks Collected on Kinmen Island of Taiwan. Am J Trop Med Hyg 80: 389-394 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Kim, J.-Y., Cho, S.-H., Joo, H.-N., Tsuji, M., Cho, S.-R., Park, I.-J., Chung, G.-T., Ju, J.-W., Cheun, H.-I., Lee, H.-W., Lee, Y.-H., Kim, T.-S. (2007). First Case of Human Babesiosis in Korea: Detection and Characterization of a Novel Type of Babesia sp. (KO1) Similar to Ovine Babesia. J. Clin. Microbiol. 45: 2084-2087 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Swanson, S. J., Neitzel, D., Reed, K. D., Belongia, E. A. (2006). Coinfections Acquired from Ixodes Ticks. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 19: 708-727 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Dantrakool, A., Somboon, P., Hashimoto, T., Saito-Ito, A. (2004). Identification of a New Type of Babesia Species in Wild Rats (Bandicota indica) in Chiang Mai Province, Thailand. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 850-854 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Homer, M. J., Lodes, M. J., Reynolds, L. D., Zhang, Y., Douglass, J. F., McNeill, P. D., Houghton, R. L., Persing, D. H. (2003). Identification and Characterization of Putative Secreted Antigens from Babesia microti. J. Clin. Microbiol. 41: 723-729 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yokoyama, N., Bork, S., Nishisaka, M., Hirata, H., Matsuo, T., Inoue, N., Xuan, X., Suzuki, H., Sugimoto, C., Igarashi, I. (2003). Roles of the Maltese Cross Form in the Development of Parasitemia and Protection against Babesia microti Infection in Mice. Infect. Immun. 71: 411-417 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tsuji, M., Wei, Q., Zamoto, A., Morita, C., Arai, S., Shiota, T., Fujimagari, M., Itagaki, A., Fujita, H., Ishihara, C. (2001). Human Babesiosis in Japan: Epizootiologic Survey of Rodent Reservoir and Isolation of New Type of Babesia microti-Like Parasite. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 4316-4322 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Ryan, R., Krause, P. J., Radolf, J., Freeman, K., Spielman, A., Lenz, R., Levin, A. (2001). Diagnosis of Babesiosis Using an Immunoblot Serologic Test. CVI 8: 1177-1180 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Wei, Q., Tsuji, M., Zamoto, A., Kohsaki, M., Matsui, T., Shiota, T., Telford, S. R. III, Ishihara, C. (2001). 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. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 2178-2183 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Saito-Ito, A., Tsuji, M., Wei, Q., He, S., Matsui, T., Kohsaki, M., Arai, S., Kamiyama, T., Hioki, K., Ishihara, C. (2000). Transfusion-Acquired, Autochthonous Human Babesiosis in Japan: Isolation of Babesia microti-Like Parasites with hu-RBC-SCID Mice. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 4511-4516 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Krause, P. J., Lepore, T., Sikand, V. K., Gadbaw, J., Burke, G., Telford, S. R., Brassard, P., Pearl, D., Azlanzadeh, J., Christianson, D., McGrath, D., Spielman, A. (2000). Atovaquone and Azithromycin for the Treatment of Babesiosis. NEJM 343: 1454-1458 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Homer, M. J., Aguilar-Delfin, I., Telford, S. R. III, Krause, P. J., Persing, D. H. (2000). Babesiosis. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 13: 451-469 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Igarashi, I., Suzuki, R., Waki, S., Tagawa, Y.-I., Seng, S., Tum, S., Omata, Y., Saito, A., Nagasawa, H., Iwakura, Y., Suzuki, N., Mikami, T., Toyoda, Y. (1999). Roles of CD4+ T Cells and Gamma Interferon in Protective Immunity against Babesia microti Infection in Mice. Infect. Immun. 67: 4143-4148 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bronsdon, M. A., Homer, M. J., Magera, J. M. H., Harrison, C., Andrews, R. G., Bielitzki, J. T., Emerson, C. L., Persing, D. H., Fritsche, T. R. (1999). Detection of Enzootic Babesiosis in Baboons (Papio cynocephalus) and Phylogenetic Evidence Supporting Synonymy of the Genera Entopolypoides and Babesia. J. Clin. Microbiol. 37: 1548-1553 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»