Transfusion-transmitted babesiosis in Washington State: first reported case caused by a WA1-type parasite.
Most cases of babesiosis reported in the United States have been tickborne and caused by Babesia microti, the etiologic agent of all previously described transfusion-transmitted cases. A 76-year-old man with the first recognized case of transfusion-transmitted infection with the recently identified WA1-type Babesia parasite is described. The subject received multiple blood transfusions in 1994. Indirect immunofluorescent antibody testing of serum from 57 blood donors implicated a 34-year-old man (WA1 titer, 1:65,536) whose donation had been used for packed red cells. Isolates of the organisms that infected the recipient and the donor, both of whom were spleen-intact residents of Washington State, were obtained by hamster inoculation. The DNA sequence of a 536-bp region of the nuclear small subunit-rRNA gene of both isolates was identical to that of WA1 (isolated in 1991 from the index WA1 case-patient). Effective measures for preventing transmission of babesiosis by blood transfusion are needed.
Herwaldt
B L
BL
Division of Parasitic Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30341-3724, USA.
Kjemtrup
A M
AM
Conrad
P A
PA
Barnes
R C
RC
Wilson
M
M
McCarthy
M G
MG
Sayers
M H
MH
Eberhard
M L
ML
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D001403:Babesia / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000635:transmission*; D001782:Blood Donors; D002648:Child; D006224:Cricetinae; D016054:DNA, Protozoan / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D017707:Erythrocyte Transfusion; D005260:Female; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D013154:Spleen; D014861:Washington
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D016054:DNA, Protozoan; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D016053:RNA, Protozoan