Babesia web site

[Guest guest]

Wes Witten from Oklahoma, a member of this list, sent me this web site about

Babesia, neat pictures there, I have copied the text but you need to go to

the site to see the pictures.

Marta

http://www.biosci.ohio-state.edu/~parasite/babesia.html

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Members of the genus Babesia belong to a group of the Apicomplexa referred

to as the " piroplasms. " The piroplasms have two host life cycles involving

a tick and mammal. In the mammalian host the organisms reproduce asexually

in the host's red blood cells.

The vector for Babesia bigemina is a hard tick (Boophilus sp.), and the

parasite infects a variety of ruminants. In cattle this parasite causes a

disease known as Texas cattle fever or red-water fever. The parasite often

occurs in pairs in the host's red blood cells, hence the name " bigemina, "

and in cattle the parasite can cause massive destruction of the red blood

cells. This results in red urine (due to hemoglobin in the urine), and the

disease can kill cattle within a week. Related species occur in dogs (B.

canis) and rodents (B. microti). The latter species also occurs in humans,

with about 10-15 cases a year being reported.