Babesiosis in a Massachusetts Resident

Abstract

THE babesia or piroplasmas are intracellular red-cell parasites transmitted by ticks that have been identified in a variety of wild and domestic mammals. Although many animal infections are subclinical, babesiosis can produce a febrile, hemolytic disease of considerable economic importance. The first three recognized human cases of babesiosis were in persons whose spleens had been removed.1 2 3 4 5 The fourth human case has occurred in a previously healthy, middle-aged woman whose spleen has not been removed, and who probably acquired the infection on Nantucket Island, Massachusetts.Case ReportA 59-year-old widow was admitted to a New Jersey hospital on July 13, 1969, . . .