 babesiosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with babesia, a genus of protozoal piroplasms. human babesiosis is common in the northeastern and midwestern united states, and sporadic throughout the rest of the world. ticks transmit the human form of babesiosis, so it often presents with other tick-borne illnesses such as lyme disease. after trypanosomes, babesia is thought to be the second-most common blood parasite of mammals, and they can have a major impact on health of domestic animals in areas without severe winters. in cattle, a major host, the disease is known as texas cattle fever, redwater, or piroplasmosis. ==classification== babesia species are in the phylum apicomplexa, which also has the protozoan parasites that cause malaria, toxoplasmosis, and cryptosporidiosis. four clades of babesia species infect humans. the main species in each clade are: #b. microti (<3&nbsp;Âµm) #b. duncani, related to babesia of dogs #b. divergens (cattle parasite seen mostly in europe) and b. venatorum (roe deer parasite, formerly called eu1), most closely related to the large babesia clade #large babesia (>3&nbsp;Âµm) mostly infects ungulates, but also includes k01 strain (an isolated case observed in south korea, see isolated cases) == symptoms and signs == half of all children and a quarter of previously healthy adults are asymptomatic with babesia infection. for those who develop symptoms, they are similar to malaria, because both cause fever and hemolytic anemia. people with symptoms usually become ill 1 to 4 weeks after the bite, or 1 to 9 weeks after transfusion of contaminated blood products. a person infected with babesiosis gradually develops malaise and fatigue, followed by a fever. hemolytic anemia, in which red blood cells are destroyed and removed, also develops. chills, sweats, and thrombocytopenia (a low number of platelets in the blood) are also common symptoms. less common symptoms and physical exam findings of mild-to-moderate babesiosis: *headache *muscle pain *[[anorexia (symptom)|
Apicomplexa Protozoal_diseases Tick-borne_diseases Zoonoses