Babesia and Lyme — it’s worse than you think

Babesia and Lyme — it’s worse than you think

Babesia, a tick-borne infection that causes malaria-like symptoms, has been making headlines over the past two years as the number of reported cases increases, and concerns grow over the seriousness of the disease and its ability to be transmitted through the blood supply.

Although Lyme disease is the most talked about tick-transmitted disease, Babesia is more common than you might think. In the 2015 issue of Trends in Parasitology, Diuk-Wasser and colleagues report that up to 40% of patients with Lyme disease experienced concurrent Babesiosis. [1]

This means that out of the estimated 300,000 cases of Lyme disease reported annually in the U.S., 120,000 of those individuals may also have Babesia. This is particularly alarming given that the disease can go undetected in asymptomatic individuals and is transmissible through blood transfusions or congenitally. Additionally, Babesia requires different treatment than Lyme disease.

The Babesia microti (B. microti) parasite that leads to Babesia is commonly seen in blacklegged deer ticks. But according to the authors, it’s also common to find ticks and enzootic hosts carrying both Borrelia burgdorferi (the causative agent of Lyme disease) and B. microti. In fact, between 12% and 42% of rodents are co-infected with both agents. This would suggest that “coinfection provides a survival advantage for both pathogens.” [1]

reported_cases_by_year_2013

Source: CDC. Number of Babesiosis cases since it become a nationally reportable disease in 2011.

The first case of Babesiosis caused by the B. microti parasite was identified in 1969 in an individual who had vacationed in Massachusetts. It wasn’t until 2011, that it became a nationally notifiable disease with more than 1100 cases reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Two years later, this number had risen to nearly 1800.

Setty and colleagues summarized their concern in a 2003 review, “Parasitemia in humans is transient and episodic. For this reason, there is a risk of asymptomatic donors transmitting the disease to recipients.” The authors raised concerns that there were 20 cases of Babesiosis and a variant Babesia strain called WA1 by red blood cells and blood component transfusions by 2003.

Babesia can lead to serious illness. Patients have presented with atrial fibrillation, [2] noncardiogenic pulmonary edema, [3] and anemia. [2] In New York, between 1982 and 1991, 7 people with Babesia died, while another patient on Nantucket Island developed pancarditis and died. [4]

Babesia occurs in individuals without the risk factors of increased age, prior splenectomy, immunosuppression, prematurity, and liver disease. [2] In one study of 192 patients, the average age was 46 years for individuals with Babesia. [5] The ages ranged from 27 to 83 years in a New York case series. [6] Five of 192 patients were immunosuppressed, [5] while none of the four subjects in another study had a splenectomy. [2]

Babesia can increase the severity of Lyme disease. Coinfected patients were more likely to have experienced fatigue, headache, sweats, chills, anorexia, emotional lability, nausea, conjunctivitis, and splenomegaly more frequently than those with Lyme disease alone. [7] 

Babesia can also increase the duration of illness with Lyme disease. Babesia patients can remain symptomatic for years with constitutional, musculoskeletal, or neurological symptoms. One study found that 50% of coinfected patients were symptomatic for 3 months or longer, compared to only 4% of patients who had Lyme disease alone. [7] Meanwhile, one-third of patients with a history of both Babesia and Lyme disease remained symptomatic an average of 6 years. [2]

“The clinical pictures for 3 out of our 4 coinfected patients included a large number of symptoms, and 1 coinfected patient had persistent fatigue after treatment,” according to a study by Steere and colleagues. [8] [bctt tweet=”Babesia and Lyme — it’s worse than you think” username=”DrDanielCameron”]

Babesia – difficult to diagnose 

Equally worrisome is the fact that the disease can be difficult to diagnose based on symptoms. Nearly all patients with Babesia reported sweats. However, if the patient was coinfected with Lyme disease, the incidence of sweats dropped to 42%. Sweats can also be reported in other tick borne illnesses. [5]

Blood sample for babesia parasite testingBabesia can also be difficult to diagnose with current testing. The parasite was detected microscopically in as few as one-third of patients with Babesia. [5] Specific amplifiable DNA and IgM antibody were more likely to be positive. [5] The reliability of tests for Babesia in actual practice remains to be determined.

The Babesia tests can become negative. The Babesia sporozoites can be too few in number to be detected on a thin smear or can resolve with or without treatment. It’s been reported that a positive serologic test for B. microti will decay over time, leading to a negative test. Half of the patients with positive serologic tests for B. microti were negative on follow-up. [2]

Treating Babesia  

Babesia cannot be treated with the same medications used to treat Lyme disease. Doxycycline is effective for Lyme disease, Ehrlichia, and Anaplasmosis but not for Babesia.   Treatment with Mepron and Zithromax has been effective for Babesia. Quinine and clindamycin have also been effective but are associated with a higher rate of side effects. Flagyl and Tindamax drugs have been proposed but not well studied. The optimal treatment for Babesia has yet to be worked out.

Physicians have different views over the diagnosis and treatment of Babesia. The Infectious Diseases Society of America’s (IDSA) guidelines advise:

  1. Symptomatic patients whose serum contains antibody to Babesia but whose blood lacks identifiable Babesia parasites on smear or Babesia DNA by PCR should not receive treatment.
  2. Treatment is also not recommended for asymptomatic individuals, regardless of the results of serologic examination, blood smears, or PCR.
  3. Asymptomatic patients with positive Babesial smears and/or PCR should have these studies repeated, and a course of treatment should be considered if Parasitemia persists for >3 months. [9]

There are physicians who have elected not to treat Babesia patients, who are asymptomatic. In 1998, Krause and colleagues reported, “24 of 46 Babesia-infected subjects, who received no specific treatment, had Babesia DNA detectable in their blood for an average of 82 days.” [10]

In 2002, Krause et al reported, “Because symptoms had resolved or improved by the time concurrent Babesiosis or HGE was diagnosed, therapy was not administered to 38 (58%) of the patients with Lyme disease plus Babesiosis.” [5]

There are physicians concerned that symptoms of Babesia may be overlooked when evaluating patients. [11] The symptoms of chronic Lyme disease were overlooked for up to 14 years until reported in the 1990 New England Journal of Medicine by Logigian et al. [12] Meanwhile, the symptoms of Lyme disease were dismissed in by the IDSA Lyme disease guideline committee in 2000 and 2006 as nothing more than the aches and pains of daily living. [11] And the severity of the chronic manifestations were not validated until the 4 National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored clinical trials were completed. [13]

 

Sources:

  1. Diuk-Wasser MA, Vannier E, Krause PJ. Coinfection by Ixodes Tick-Borne Pathogens: Ecological, Epidemiological, and Clinical Consequences. Trends Parasitol, (2015).
  2. Wang TJ, Liang MH, Sangha O et al. Coexposure to Borrelia burgdorferi and Babesia microti does not worsen the long-term outcome of lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis, 31(5), 1149-1154 (2000).
  3. Golightly LM, Hirschhorn LR, Weller PF. Fever and headache in a splenectomized woman. Rev Infect Dis, 11(4), 629-637 (1989).
  4. Marcus LC, Steere AC, Duray PH, Anderson AE, Mahoney EB. Fatal pancarditis in a patient with coexistent Lyme disease and babesiosis. Demonstration of spirochetes in the myocardium. Ann Intern Med, 103(3), 374-376 (1985).
  5. Krause PJ, McKay K, Thompson CA et al. Disease-specific diagnosis of coinfecting tickborne zoonoses: babesiosis, human granulocytic ehrlichiosis, and Lyme disease. Clin Infect Dis, 34(9), 1184-1191 (2002).
  6. Meldrum SC, Birkhead GS, White DJ, Benach JL, Morse DL. Human babesiosis in New York State: an epidemiological description of 136 cases. Clin Infect Dis, 15(6), 1019-1023 (1992).
  7. Krause PJ, Feder HM, Jr. Lyme disease and babesiosis. Adv Pediatr Infect Dis, 9, 183-209 (1994).
  8. Steere AC, McHugh G, Suarez C, Hoitt J, Damle N, Sikand VK. Prospective study of coinfection in patients with erythema migrans. Clin Infect Dis, 36(8), 1078-1081 (2003).
  9. Wormser GP, Dattwyler RJ, Shapiro ED et al. The clinical assessment, treatment, and prevention of lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis, and babesiosis: clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Clin Infect Dis, 43(9), 1089-1134 (2006).
  10. Krause PJ, Spielman A, Telford SR, 3rd et al. Persistent parasitemia after acute babesiosis. N Engl J Med, 339(3), 160-165 (1998).
  11. Cameron DJ, Johnson LB, Maloney EL. Evidence assessments and guideline recommendations in Lyme disease: the clinical management of known tick bites, erythema migrans rashes and persistent disease. Expert Rev Anti Infect Ther, 1-33 (2014).
  12. Logigian EL, Kaplan RF, Steere AC. Chronic neurologic manifestations of Lyme disease. N Engl J Med, 323(21), 1438-1444 (1990).
  13. Cameron DJ. Clinical trials validate the severity of persistent Lyme disease symptoms. Med Hypotheses, 72, 153-156 (2008).

372 Replies to "Babesia and Lyme — it’s worse than you think"

  • Lorraine
    01/29/2018 (3:11 pm)
    Reply

    My brother has Lyme, babesia,and bartonella. He suffers every day . Headaches, inflamed gut, passes out,going on for 12 years . Seeing a dr in NY we live in IL . He said he’d be dead if didn’t have treatment .
    But nothing stays away. Of course antibiotics. My sister has journal of everything .
    He is 59. Strongest person because I’d be laid out . Too long but dr in ny said never seen anyone like my brother. Meaning so sick. I’m so sad he still cooks for people he’s a good one.

    • Dr. Daniel Cameron
      02/01/2018 (12:52 am)
      Reply

      It can be difficult to know whether a tick borne infection has cleared. I am sorry to hear he has not recover. He should be evaluated by various specialist to rule out other causes.

  • Katie
    01/18/2018 (7:14 am)
    Reply

    I have been fighting Lyme, Rocky Mountain Spotted and Babesia Duncani for approx. 4 years. I have had IV pic line for 1 year. Babesia symptoms as wells as Lyme re occurred 7 months after IV removal. I cannot seem to clear the Babesia. I feel that I have tried nearly everything in every combination with only minor relief of symptoms. Is there anything novel you would recommend for the Babs I cant seem to clear? Thanks!

    • Dr. Daniel Cameron
      01/18/2018 (1:29 pm)
      Reply

      Your case highlights the difficulties we all face when tick borne issues are a concern. Each case needs to be evaluated individually.

  • Bonnie Wilson-Davis
    01/12/2018 (12:04 am)
    Reply

    I had Babesia caught early, major symptoms cleared within a couple weeks, a few mild symptoms have lingered like balance issues and fatigue and are slowly trailing off after several months. PCR, smears, etc. repeated several times all blood work is negative. Feel like everything is on the wane, but how long (typically) does it take to get completely back to normal? Are there any supplements, herbs, etc. that might help? Thanks.

    • Dr. Daniel Cameron
      01/14/2018 (7:00 am)
      Reply

      I am happy to hear the major symptoms cleared. Ther are some individuals where they remain ill over time. Some benefit from retreatment for Babesia with retreatment. The trials have not addressed who will benefit from retreatment. Supplements have also been proposed but are also not studied.

  • Tom
    01/07/2018 (3:36 am)
    Reply

    I had babesia and was hospitalized and treated and retested after treatment.Supposedly I am cured. Why do I still feel totally fatigued and have very poor balance. I have even had to get PT for balance.

    • Dr. Daniel Cameron
      01/10/2018 (1:28 pm)
      Reply

      The original treatment trial was 10 days for Babesia but those cases were identified early. There are a growing number of case reports where longer therapy and retreatment of Babesis has been described.

      • Suzanne Louise
        08/29/2023 (2:18 pm)
        Reply

        When you say identified early what amount of time is this, please? Thanks.

        • Dr. Daniel Cameron
          08/29/2023 (3:17 pm)
          Reply

          I prefer 4 to 6 weeks. I have found that treating Babesia at the same time as Lyme disease helpful

  • Nic
    01/03/2018 (4:28 pm)
    Reply

    My doctor wants me to take Zithromax/Mepron combo for 4 months because the life cycle of the red blood cell is 110 days.

    Is this necessary? I have having increased brain fog, dizzyness and “spacy” feeling since starting a month and a half ago and it is kind of worrying me.

    • Dr. Daniel Cameron
      01/10/2018 (1:37 pm)
      Reply

      The life cycle of a red cell is limited. I use clinical judgement based on response rather than tie it to red cells.

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