scholarly journals Semicentennial of Human Babesiosis, Nantucket Island

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1159
Author(s):  
Sam R. Telford ◽  
Heidi K. Goethert ◽  
Timothy J. Lepore
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Index Case ◽  
Babesia Microti ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
Terminal Moraine ◽  
Public Health Burden ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
First Case ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Babesiosis

Fifty years ago, the index case of human babesiosis due to Babesia microti was diagnosed in a summer resident of Nantucket Island. Human babesiosis, once called “Nantucket fever” due to its seeming restriction to Nantucket and the terminal moraine islands of southern New England, has emerged across the northeastern United States to commonly infect people wherever Lyme disease is endemic. We review the history of babesiosis on Nantucket, analyze its epidemiology and ecology there, provide summaries of the first case histories, and comment on its future public health burden.

scholarly journals Human Babesiosis in Europe

Pathogens ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1165
Author(s):  
Anke Hildebrandt ◽  
Annetta Zintl ◽  
Estrella Montero ◽  
Klaus-Peter Hunfeld ◽  
Jeremy Gray
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Management ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Genetic Characteristics ◽  
Susceptibility To Infection ◽  
First Case ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
History Of ◽  
Etiological Agents ◽  
Human Babesiosis

Babesiosis is attracting increasing attention as a worldwide emerging zoonosis. The first case of human babesiosis in Europe was described in the late 1950s and since then more than 60 cases have been reported in Europe. While the disease is relatively rare in Europe, it is significant because the majority of cases present as life-threatening fulminant infections, mainly in immunocompromised patients. Although appearing clinically similar to human babesiosis elsewhere, particularly in the USA, most European forms of the disease are distinct entities, especially concerning epidemiology, human susceptibility to infection and clinical management. This paper describes the history of the disease and reviews all published cases that have occurred in Europe with regard to the identity and genetic characteristics of the etiological agents, pathogenesis, aspects of epidemiology including the eco-epidemiology of the vectors, the clinical courses of infection, diagnostic tools and clinical management and treatment.

Severe Pre-Eclampsia in Multiparous Women: Indication of an Environmental Triggering Agent?

1987 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 8-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
D.C. Kilpatrick ◽  
E.C. Jazwinska ◽  
W.A. Liston ◽  
G.E. Smart
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Data ◽  
Infectious Agent ◽  
Clinical Syndrome ◽  
Case Histories ◽  
First Case ◽  
Multiparous Women ◽  
History Of ◽  
Maternal Immune Response ◽  
First Time ◽  
Normotensive Pregnancy

Two case histories are described with conflicting implications for the etiopathogenesis of pre-eclampsia. In both, typical proteinuric pre-eclampsia developed despite a history of previous normotensive pregnancy. In the first case, the disease was associated with a change of husband, consistent with the view that pre-eclampsia arises from an inadequate maternal immune response to paternal antigens inherited by the fetus. The second case, however, concerned a woman who developed pre-eclampsia for the first time in her third pregnancy by the same reproductive partner. We conclude that either more than one underlying cause can result in the clinical syndrome of pre-eclampsia, or that pre-eclampsia is caused by an environmental factor. The possibility that pre-eclampsia may be initiated by an infectious agent is briefly explored in the light of the clinical histories described and well-established epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data.

scholarly journals Transfusion-Transmitted Babesiosis

2018 ◽  
Vol 143 (1) ◽  
pp. 130-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatiana Villatoro ◽  
Julie Katz Karp
Keyword(s):  
Blood Donors ◽  
Blood Donation ◽  
Significant Risk ◽  
The United States ◽  
Babesia Microti ◽  
Draft Guidance ◽  
Infected Blood ◽  
First Case ◽  
History Of ◽  
Dna Pcr

Babesiosis is most commonly caused by Babesia microti and is transmitted via the bite of an infected Ixodes spp tick. However, Babesia is also transmitted via blood transfusion. In the United States, the first case of transfusion-transmitted babesiosis was recognized in 1979, and in recent years, the incidence has rapidly increased. Because most of the infected blood donors do not experience any symptoms, they pose a significant risk to the blood supply. Donor deferral for a history of babesiosis is currently performed but is ineffective. In March 2018, the FDA licensed a DNA PCR and antibody assay that were used in tandem in pivotal trials for screening blood donors for B microti; with other assays still being evaluated under investigational new drug protocols. Blood donation screening is essential to reducing the risk of transfusion-transmitted babesiosis, which is why blood centers collecting in geographic regions of highest risk have been testing since approximately 2010. Investigational NAT assays of higher sensitivity are pending FDA review. Further, in July 2018, the FDA issued a draft guidance for reducing the risk of transfusion-transmitted babesiosis. Release of the final guidance may be postponed until sensitivities and specificities of all current and potential strategies have been properly evaluated.

A record of late-Holocene environmental change from southern New England, USA

2011 ◽  
Vol 76 (3) ◽  
pp. 314-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Wyatt Oswald ◽  
David R. Foster
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Climatic Variability ◽  
Organic Content ◽  
Pollen Record ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Ecological Changes ◽  
Dry Conditions ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Town

AbstractAnalyses of a sediment core from Little Pond, located in the town of Bolton, Massachusetts, provide new insights into the history of environmental and ecological changes in southern New England during the late Holocene. Declines in organic content and peaks in the abundance of Isoetes spores indicate reduced water depth at 2900–2600, 2200–1800, and 1200–800 calibrated years before present (cal yr BP), generally consistent with the timing of dry conditions in records from elsewhere in the northeastern United States. The Little Pond pollen record features little change over the last 3000 yr, indicating that the surrounding vegetation was relatively insensitive to these periods of drought. The 1200–800 cal yr BP dry interval, however, coincides with increased abundance of Castanea pollen, suggesting that the expansion of Castanea in southern New England may have been influenced by late-Holocene climatic variability.

scholarly journals Diagnosis of Babesiosis Using an Immunoblot Serologic Test

2001 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 1177-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Ryan ◽  
Peter J. Krause ◽  
Justin Radolf ◽  
Kathy Freeman ◽  
Andrew Spielman ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Subjects ◽  
Sodium Dodecyl ◽  
Antibody Test ◽  
Babesia Microti ◽  
Immunoblot Assay ◽  
Granulocytic Ehrlichiosis ◽  
Whole Cell Lysate ◽  
Indirect Immunofluorescent Assay ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Babesiosis

ABSTRACT Although the current indirect immunofluorescent assay (IFA) diagnostic antibody test for human babesiosis is sensitive and specific, an immunoblot antibody test may be easier to standardize and to perform. Our objective, therefore, was to determine the efficacy of and develop interpretive criteria for an immunoblot antibody test for diagnosing acute human babesiosis using a Babesia microtiwhole-cell lysate as the antigen. We compared the reactivity of sera to a B. microti immunoblot assay in 24 human subjects experiencing symptoms and expressing laboratory evidence of babesiosis, 28 subjects who experienced Lyme disease, 12 subjects who experienced human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and 51 subjects who reported no history of any of these diseases and whose sera did not react againstB. microti antigen in an IFA test. Immunoblot strips were impregnated with proteins derived from the GI strain of B. microti that had been electrophoresed in an acrylamide sodium dodecyl sulfate gel, followed by electroblotting onto nitrocellulose membranes. The sera of all subjects who experienced babesiosis reacted against the B. microti antigen in the IFA and against at least one of nine immunoblot protein bands specific to B. microti. In contrast, none of the sera from people who appeared not to have experienced this infection reacted against the B. microti antigen in the IFA (compared to 4% in the immunoblot assay). When two reactive bands were considered as definitive, immunoblot test sensitivity was 96%, while specificity was 99% and predictive positivity and predictive negativity were 96 and 99%, respectively. Our B. microti immunoblot procedure shows promise as a sensitive, specific, and reproducible assay for routine clinical diagnosis of acute babesiosis.

scholarly journals Transfusion-Acquired, Autochthonous Human Babesiosis in Japan: Isolation of Babesia microti-Like Parasites with hu-RBC-SCID Mice

2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (12) ◽  
pp. 4511-4516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atsuko Saito-Ito ◽  
Masayoshi Tsuji ◽  
Qiang Wei ◽  
Shenyi He ◽  
Toshimitsu Matsui ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Blood Transfusion ◽  
The United States ◽  
Scid Mice ◽  
Babesia Microti ◽  
Rrna Gene ◽  
Small Subunit Rrna ◽  
Blood Samples ◽  
First Case ◽  
Human Rbcs ◽  
Human Babesiosis

We have isolated piroplasms from a patient who developed the first case of human babesiosis in Japan by using NOD/shi-scidmice whose circulating erythrocytes (RBCs) had been replaced with human RBCs (hu-RBC-SCID mice). Following inoculation of the patient's blood specimen into hu-RBC-SCID mice, parasites proliferated within the human RBCs in the mice, resulting in a high level of parasitemia. Parasite DNA was prepared from blood samples of the patient and the mice, and the nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced. Both DNA samples gave rise to identical sequences which showed the highest degree of homology (99.2%) with the Babesia microti rDNA. Because the patient had received a blood transfusion before the onset of babesiosis, we investigated the eight donors who were involved. Their archived blood samples were analyzed for specific antibody and parasite DNA; only a single donor was found to be positive by both tests, and the parasite rDNA sequence from the donor coincided with that derived from the patient. The donor's serum exhibited a high antibody titer against the isolate from the patient, whereas it exhibited only a weak cross-reaction against B. microti strains isolated in the United States. We conclude that the first Japanese babesiosis case occurred due to a blood transfusion and that the etiological agent is an indigenous Japanese parasite which may be a geographical variant of B. microti. Our results also demonstrated the usefulness of hu-RBC-SCID mice for isolation of parasites from humans and for maintenance of the parasite infectivity for human RBCs.

The Archaeology of Magunkaquog

2020 ◽  
pp. 49-73
Author(s):  
Stephen A. Mrozowski
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
New England ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Town Meeting ◽  
John Eliot ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
History Of ◽  
Praying Town

Chapter 3 details the history of the Magunkaquog site from the features and material culture recovered through archaeological investigations in the late 1990s, combined with information from documentary records. With this site, the location of a seventeenth-century praying town meeting house, collaboration began between the archaeologists and the Nipmuc Nation. Certain practices revealed through archaeology conducted at this site provide clear evidence of a continuum between the post-contact inhabitants at Magunkaquog and their pre-contact cultural practices. Connections to other Native sites in southern New England also exist. Analyses of soils, ceramics, metals, glass, pipes, lithics, buttons and other artifacts provide a glimpse into the everyday lives of the site’s inhabitants 350 years ago as they encountered intense cultural changes with the arrival of John Eliot and other European settlers coupled with the adoption of European products into their lives.

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