A retrospective serological survey on human babesiosis in Belgium

Commentary: Different Babesia species are spreading worldwide. In this recent study published in Clinical Microbiology and Infection, 3 different species of Babesia (microti, divergens, and EU-1) were discovered in patients in Belgium, where B. microti infections had not previously been suspected. We have also been finding different Babesia species apart from B. microti, such as Babesia WA-1 (duncani) in our patients from the East Coast. In 2011, I reported at the ILADS international conference in Toronto, a study we performed on 137 patients using LabCorp testing for Babesia WA-1, where we found that 26/137 patients (19%) tested positive for Babesia WA-1 from Winter Park, Florida up to Hamlin, Maine. This species is usually reported only from patients on the West Coast. Tick-borne co-infections are spreading, and this article highlights the need for physicians to regularly test patients for multiple species of Babesia if they present with malarial-like symptoms without a clear etiology.

A retrospective serological survey on human babesiosis in Belgium, PubMed.gov