| Babesia microti | A malaria-like protozoan naturally parasitizing certain rodents (Peromyscus and Microtus spp.) in North America; a number of human cases have been reported from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard islands and nearby coastal New England. The local tick vector is Ixodes dammini, whose numbers and infection levels have greatly increased in recent years with the increase in the deer population, which serves as an abundant blood source for I. Dammini. See: Borrelia burgdorferi. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| Babesia motasi | Species that causes acute or chronic disease of sheep and goats in southern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the area formerly known as the U.S.S.R., and other areas; transmitted by ticks of the genera Rhipicephalus, Haemaphysalis, and Dermacentor. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Babesia ovis | Species described from sheep and goats in many tropical and subtropical areas of the eastern hemisphere as a cause of icterohematuria; it is smaller and less pathogenic than Babesia motasi, and immunologically distinct. (05 Mar 2000) |
| Babesia trautmanni | Species that causes mild or fatal babesiosis in pigs in southern Europe, the area formerly known as the U.S.S.R., and Africa; the vector is Rhipicephalus sanguineus. (05 Mar 2000) |
| babesiasis | <microbiology> A parasitic disease affecting mammals which is caused by protozoa from the genus Babesia of the order Piroplasmida and is transmitted by ticks. The Babesia protozoa feed on the blood of mammals. Symptoms include high fever, anaemia, and red urine (haemoglobinuria). (09 Oct 1997) |
| Babesiidae | A family of protozoan parasites (class Sporozoea, order Piroplasmida) occurring in the red blood cells of various mammals. The organisms are piriform, round, or oval in shape and reproduce by schizogony to form tetrads or by binary fission to form pairs in the red blood cells; transmission is effected by ticks. The family includes the genera Babesia, Echinozoon, and Entopolypoides; Aegyptianella, formerly included, is now thought to be a rickettsia. See: Theileriidae. (05 Mar 2000) |
| babesiosis | <microbiology> A rare, often severe (and sometimes fatal) illness in man that is caused by infection with the protozoal organism, Babesia microti. The disease, transmitted by ticks, occurs mostly in the Northeastern United States. The protozoan invades red blood cells causing fever, chills, sweats, joint pains, nausea, vomiting and red blood cell haemolysis (rupture) leading to anaemia. (27 Sep 1997) |