Tick-borne parasite may be creeping into blood supply

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Tick-borne parasite may be creeping into blood supply

By Weise, USA TODAY

A potentially life-threatening parasite in ticks capable of causing malaria-like

illness is more prevalent than doctors realized and can be transmitted through

blood transfusions.

The black-legged tick carries the babesia parasite.

It has infected at least 122 people since 2000, says a study out Tuesday by

researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The finding doesn't mean transfusions are dangerous, only that physicians need

to be aware of a previously invisible illness. " People should not be afraid to

get blood transfusions, " says Barbara Herwaldt, a specialist in parasitic

diseases at the CDC who is lead author on this week's paper in the journal

ls of Internal Medicine. " In the big picture this is a small possibility,

but it's something important that we want people to be aware of, because it can

be life threatening and it is treatable. "

The babesia parasite (bah-BEE-zee-ah) causes an illness called babesiosis

(bah-BEE-zee-oh-sis). The parasites are carried by the common deer tick, also

known as the black-legged tick.

Babesia infections can range from so mild the victims don't know they're ill to

severe. The parasite invades red blood cells. Symptoms include fever, chills and

muscle pain. Complications can include blood cell destruction, organ failure and

death.

Doctors are especially concerned because it appears that the risk of

transfusion-associated babesia infection may be increasing. Cases are occurring

year-round and have been seen in states where ticks that carry babesia are not

endemic.

There's no Food and Drug Administration-approved test for the parasite in blood

supplies, so blood banks rely on asking would-be donors about flu-like illnesses

and tick bites. Several companies are working on creating screening tests,

Herwaldt says.

Since 1979, when the first transfusion-associated case was found, 159 such cases

have been reported, 77% of them since 2000.

The first known case of ticks transmitting the babesia parasite was in

Massachusetts in 1969. In 1979, the first transfusion-associated case was found.

It wasn't until this January that babesiosis became a disease that doctors were

required to report to their local health department. Between Jan. 1 and Aug. 20,

314 cases of babesiosis from ticks were reported.

However, the public shouldn't be too concerned. Although babesia is more common

than doctors had realized, " it's nowhere near as common as Lyme disease, "

Herwaldt says.

The bulk of the cases are in the seven states where babesia-infected ticks are

most commonly found: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New

York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Although numbers are not certain, people

appear about 100 times more likely to get babesiosis from ticks than from blood

transfusion, Herwaldt says.

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/story/2011-09-06/CDC-Tick-borne-parasite-thr\

eatening-US-blood-supply/50277204/1