Babesiosis or  piroplasmosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with a eukaryotic parasite in the order Piroplasmida, typically a Babesia or Theileria, in the phylum Apicomplexa. Human babesiosis transmission via tick bite is most common in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and parts of Europe, and sporadic throughout the rest of the world. It occurs in warm weather. People can get infected with Babesia parasites by the bite of an infected tick, by getting a blood transfusion from an infected donor of blood products, or by congenital transmission (an infected mother to her baby). Ticks transmit the human strain of babesiosis, so it often presents with other tick-borne illnesses such as Lyme disease. After trypanosomes, Babesia is thought to be the second-most common blood parasite of mammals. They can have major adverse effects on the health of domestic animals in areas without severe winters. In cattle the disease is known as Texas cattle fever or redwater. Signs and symptoms
Half of all children and a quarter of previously healthy adults with Babesia infection are asymptomatic. When people do develop symptoms, the most common are fever and hemolytic anemia, symptoms that are similar to those of malaria. People with symptoms usually become ill 1 to 4 weeks after the bite, or 1 to 9 weeks after transfusion of contaminated blood products. A person infected with babesiosis gradually develops malaise and fatigue, followed by a fever. Hemolytic anemia, in which red blood cells are destroyed and removed from the blood, also develops.
This was the first demonstration that an arthropod could act as a disease vector to transmit an infectious agent to a vertebrate host.In 1957, the first human case was documented in a splenectomized Croatian herdsman. The agent was B. divergens. In 1969, the first case was reported in an immunocompetent individual on Nantucket Island. The agent was B. microti, and the vector was the tick I. scapularis. Equine babesiosis (caused by the protozoan Theileria equi) is also known as piroplasmosis (from the Latin piro, meaning pear + Greek plasma, a thing formed). Other animals
Veterinary treatment of babesiosis does not normally use antibiotics. In livestock and  animals, diminazen (Berenil), imidocarb, or trypan blue would be the drugs of choice for treatment of B. canis rossi (dogs in Africa), B. bovis, and B. bigemina (cattle in Southern Africa). In acute cases in cattle, blood transfusion may be carried out. A vaccine is effective against B. canis canis (dogs in the Mediterranean region), but is ineffective against B. c. rossi. B. imitans causes a mild form of the disease that frequently resolves without treatment (dogs in Southeast Asia). References
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Center for Global Health (2019-06-25). "Babesiosis". Parasites and Health, DPDx—Laboratory Identification of Parasites of Public Health Concern. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention. Archived from the original on 2013-03-07. Retrieved 2003-10-07. Public domain source from which the first version of this article was derived. Krause, Peter J;  et al. (27 January 2021).