Weird Symptoms? Consider Babesiosis!

More and more often, patients are being misdiagnosed and continue to suffer from symptoms without improvement. One of the more commonly misdiagnosed illnesses is babesiosis. Symptoms of babesiosis overlap with other much more common illnesses, and due to difficulty in testing for the infection, can be left untreated for weeks, months, or even years.

Educate yourself about the risk for infection! Learn what symptoms to look for in order to better inform your doctor and receive proper treatment if infection is suspected. This article sheds light on the tickborne illness babesiosis and the need to be tested for it. If you are having strange symptoms for which your doctor has no explanation, please ask your doctor to test you for babesiosis.

What is Babesiosis?

According to the video above by Dr. Peter Krause, Senior Research Scientist at the Yale School of Public health, babesiosis is a tick borne illness, caused by the Babesia parasite that infects red blood cells. Babesiosis is transmitted from the same type of tick that transmits Lyme disease, and is considered a co-infection. The disease varies in severity, from mild asymptomatic infection to a severe, and even fatal disease. In the United States, babesiosis most commonly occurs in the Northeast and upper Midwest regions, but is rapidly spreading throughout the United States.

Those that are over the age of 50 or under the age of 3 months, as well as those that have cancer, lack of a spleen, HIV infections, and/or sickle cell disease are much more at risk than those who are otherwise healthy.

At about 1,000 reported cases a year, babesiosis is much more difficult to diagnose than Lyme disease, with about 20,000-30,000 of cases per year reported in the U.S each year. The CDC estimates that at least 300,000 people in the U.S. are infected yearly with Lyme disease, but only 20,000-30,000 cases are diagnosed. That means 90% of those with Lyme disease go undiagnosed. As Dr. Krause stated in the above video, babesiosis is even more underdiagnosed. It is thought that closer to 100,000 people are infected each year. The frequency of Lyme disease is greater because Lyme has a greater geographic spread at this point in time. In areas where both are present, Lyme disease is still more frequent.

How is Babesiosis Spread?

Transmitting Babesia is similar to Borrelia (Lyme disease) in which black legged “deer” ticks (lxodes scapullaris) carry the disease. When an infected tick bites you, it transmits the infection within 36-48 hours.

What Types of Symptoms Occur?

It is common for individuals with babesiosis to not develop symptoms at all; whereas, others have extremely severe symptoms that can result in fatality. Due to the variation of symptoms, babesiosis is very hard to diagnose and can often be mistaken for other diseases like fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome or countless others.

When symptoms do occur, they most often appear approximately one week to several months after a tick bite. Symptoms include, (but are not limited to):

• fever
• chills
• headache
• body aches
• loss of appetite
• nausea
• fatigue

Less commonly cited are symptoms such as sore throat, abdominal pain, vomiting, weight loss and depression. The parasitemia it is noted “may continue even after the patient feels well,” making the diagnosis even more complicated.

Severe disease can occur in individuals more susceptible to infection including those over the age of 50, younger than three months, and people with underlying immunosuppressive conditions such as HIV. Individuals with these criteria were shown to experience prolonged, relapsing course of illness, sometimes lasting more than one year. In patients with a weakened immune system, despite courses of antibabesial therapy, one-fifth of patients died from the illness.

Most common complications associated with babesiosis include acute respiratory failure, DIC, congestive heart failure, liver or renal failure, and splenic infarction.

Diagnosis and Treatment

Babesosis is not often thought of as a possible diagnosis in the medical community, as it is lesser known than the more common diseases and also because symptoms commonly mimic flu, chronic fatigue syndrome, and fibromyalgia symptoms. Diagnosis requires high suspicion from the physician and is not detectable on routine blood tests. So how do you diagnose Babesiosis? I am aware of only one lab in the United States that is able to thoroughly test for Babesia: www.IgeneX.com. They not only test for Babesia, but for Borellia (Lyme Disease), Bartonella (Cat Scratch Disease), and Rickettsia (Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever).

Physicians must first be informed, especially those living in regions that are more susceptible to the infection. They may use a differential diagnosis approach in order to rule out other potential causes of symptoms. Individuals presenting with viral-like symptoms, who have spent time outdoors in areas where deer ticks are highly present should be considered immediate candidates for testing. Those who have been diagnosed with Lyme disease should also be checked for Babesia.

There are several medications used to treat babesiosis. The regimen and duration of medication depends on the severity of the infection.

Prevention

In order to reduce the risk of infection from tick-borne infections, the following measures can be taken:

1. Avoid exposure to tick habitats – walk on cleared trails to minimize contact with brush and overgrown grasses where ticks can be found.

2. Wear protective clothing – cover exposed skin by wearing long socks, pants, and a long sleeved shirt when hiking in areas where ticks are present. Another important note is to wear light colored clothing in order to see and remove ticks before they attach to the skin.

3. Wear repellent – Rose geranium essential oil is known as an effective and natural tick repellent. There are other products such as Permethrin, which will kill ticks when they come in contact, and are safe for clothing (boots) but should not come in contact with the skin. Use extreme caution when using harsh chemicals such as Permethrin or DEET, which might kill ticks but may also harm humans and pets. I recommend trying the rose geranium oil first, before switching to harsh chemical repellent.

4. Check for ticks – after outdoor activities it is important to check for ticks on both humans and animals that may have been exposed. Conduct a full body exam for ticks, understanding that they are sometimes so small (poppy seed size) and can be easily overlooked. Remove ticks as soon as they are found with a fine point tweezers. It is important to get the entire body of the tick without breaking off the head inside of the skin. Slowly pull the tick straight out, until the tick lets go. Usually it takes between 36-48 hours for a tick to transmit the parasite; therefore prompt removal is key to ultimately reduce risk of infection.

Overall, a high level of suspicion is important. Once you or doctor suspect its presence, testing can be done. The technology is there to make the diagnosis, but the test needs to be ordered!

One more important note: if you have ever had a blood transfusion, babesiosis is a possibility. Presently, donor blood is not checked for Babesia. As a result, it is the #1 cause of infectious disease from blood transfusions in the United States.

The good news is…..once properly diagnosed, babesiosis can be cured!

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Photo credit: Sarah / CC BY 2.0