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Severe Anemia After Treatment of Babesiosis

Even after receiving appropriate and complete antibiotic treatment, some patients recovering from babesiosis develop severe anemia.

One tick-borne disease, babesiosis, has been increasing its range dramatically in recent years. The same ticks that carry Lyme disease (Ixodes scapularis) also transmit babesiosis. That is why we are not surprised that this infection is spreading to the same regions as Lyme disease.

Babesiosis is caused by protozoa (Babesia microti) that hide in red blood cells just as malaria parasites do. Some people with babesiosis never develop any symptoms. These pathogens usually cause flu-like illness, however. People often experience symptoms of fever, chills, headache and fatigue.

Anemia due to the breakdown of red blood cells is a common complication. This acute anemia clears when the patient is treated with appropriate antibiotics. Most often, doctors prescribe a combination of antimicrobial drugs to knock these germs out.

Severe Anemia Can Occur Even After Treatment:

A case series reported in the New England Journal of Medicine reveals that even after babesiosis has been successfully treated with antibiotics, some people develop a severe anemia caused by autoimmune destruction of red blood cells. Patients who do not have spleens appear to be at higher risk. Two-thirds of the patients in the report required immune-suppressing drugs to reverse their severe anemia.

Wooley et al, New England Journal of Medicine, March 8, 2017

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About the Author
Terry Graedon, PhD, is a medical anthropologist and co-host of The People’s Pharmacy radio show, co-author of The People’s Pharmacy syndicated newspaper columns and numerous books, and co-founder of The People’s Pharmacy website. Terry taught in the Duke University School of Nursing and was an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology. She is a Fellow of the Society of Applied Anthropology. Terry is one of the country's leading authorities on the science behind folk remedies..
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