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

TitleTransfusion-transmitted babesiosis in Washington State: first reported case caused by a WA1-type parasite.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication1997
AuthorsHerwaldt BL, Kjemtrup AM, Conrad PA, Barnes RC, Wilson M, McCarthy MG, Sayers MH, Eberhard ML
JournalThe Journal of infectious diseases//J Infect Dis
Volume175
Issue5
Pagination1259 - 62
Date Published1997
ISBN Number0022-1899
Other Numbersih3, 0413675
Keywords*Babesia/cl [Classification], *Babesiosis/tm [Transmission], *Blood Donors, *Erythrocyte Transfusion, Adult, Aged, Animals, Antibodies, Protozoan/bl [Blood], Babesia/ge [Genetics], Babesia/ip [Isolation & Purification], Babesiosis/ps [Parasitology], Child, Cricetinae, DNA, Protozoan/ch [Chemistry], DNA, Protozoan/ip [Isolation & Purification], DNA, Ribosomal/ch [Chemistry], DNA, Ribosomal/ip [Isolation & Purification], Female, Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect, Humans, Male, RNA, Protozoan/ge [Genetics], Spleen, Washington
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.

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