Babesia and Human Babesiosis.

Although tick transmission is the primary means by which I Babesia i spp. infect humans, blood transfusions are an increasingly important source of infection, particularly of I B. microti i in the USA. They conclude that systems for the experimental infection of ticks are vital tools for the determination of vector competence, enhancing our knowledge of pathogen ecology and of I Babesia i spp. life cycles, and consideration should be given to the standardisation of artificial-feeding protocols. I Babesia i is a genus of intraerythrocytic protozoan parasites belonging to the exclusively parasitic phylum Apicomplexa. More human cases followed over the next 50 years, and at least 4 taxonomically classified I Babesia i species ( I B. divergens, B. duncani, B. microti i , and I B. venatorum i ) have now been confirmed as zoonotic pathogens, with some others that have not yet been identified to species. [Extracted from the article]