Human babesiosis, an emerging tick-borne disease in the People's Republic of China.
Babesiosis is a typical zoonotic, emerging disease caused by a tick-borne intraerythrocytic protozoan of Babesia spp. that also can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Babesiosis imposes an increasing public-health threat. We reviewed and mapped epidemiological studies on Babesia in vectors and/or rodents in the People's Republic of China (P.R. China) and found that B. microti was the predominant species detected in the investigated regions such as Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Fujian provinces and Taiwan island. We reviewed a series of sporadic human babesiosis cases collected from 1940's to 2013, in Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan and Zhejiang and other regions including a main endemic area of malaria on the China-Myanmar border areas in P.R. China. Clinical manifestations of human babesiosis were also reviewed. Human babesiosis may have previously been overlooked in P.R. China due to a lack of medical awareness and the limitation of clinical diagnostic methods.
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis; Key Laboratory of Parasite & Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. sudazhouxia@hotmail.com.|Department of Parasitology, Medical College of Soochow University, No.199 Renai Road, Suzhou, 215123, People's Republic of China. sudazhouxia@hotmail.com.
Xia
X
Zhou
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis; Key Laboratory of Parasite & Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. shangxia@outlook.com.
Shang
S
Xia
Department of Parasitology, Medical College of Soochow University, No.199 Renai Road, Suzhou, 215123, People's Republic of China. Huangjilei1988@163.com.
Ji-Lei
JL
Huang
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis; Key Laboratory of Parasite & Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. tambo0711@gmail.com.|Biochemistry Department, Centers for Sustainable Malaria Control, Faculty of Natural & Agricultural Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa. tambo0711@gmail.com.
Ernest
E
Tambo
Department of Parasitology, Medical College of Soochow University, No.199 Renai Road, Suzhou, 215123, People's Republic of China. hxzhuge@suda.ecu.cn.
Hong-Xiang
HX
Zhuge
National Institute of Parasitic Diseases, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, WHO Collaborating Centre for Malaria, Schistosomiasis and Filariasis; Key Laboratory of Parasite & Vector Biology, Ministry of Health, Shanghai, 200025, People's Republic of China. ipdzhouxn@sh163.net.
Xiao-Nong
XN
Zhou
D000818:Animals; D001403:Babesia / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology; D001404:Babesiosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D021821:Communicable Diseases, Emerging / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology; D004197:Disease Reservoirs / Q000469:parasitology; D006801:Humans; D017282:Tick-Borne Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000469:parasitology