BABESIOSIS: DO I HAVE IT? COULD I GET IT?

Never heard of it, eh? That’s what each of the four new Babesia patients I have seen during the past two months have told me. They’d been through multiple doctor visits, had tests up the gazoo, and nothing materialized. Heard the routine, “We can’t find anything wrong with you.

Maybe you’re anxious. Have you talked to a therapist?”

Only one of these patients, a woman in her late sixties, had been treated for Lyme Disease years earlier and thought she might have been treated for Babesia as well, but wasn’t positive. At least she’d heard of it.

Babesia: One of the Lyme “Co-Infections”

Realize that when you pass through the Cheese Curtain into Wisconsin, 40-50% of the adult ticks carry Lyme Disease (although northern Illinois is catching up). The dangerous ones, the babies, or nymphs, the ones you can barely see, increases that to 75%. Michigan’s the same. With the co-infections, Babesia and Bartonella, 12-15% are infected, but still, that infected nymph could give you three infections: Lyme, Bartonella and Babesia. If you get your Lyme treated with antibiotics, you’ve covered Bartonella, but unfortunately those antibiotics will miss Babesia.

Why?

Because Babesia is different, not your typical infection. It actually invades the inside of your red blood cells, making them less efficient to carry oxygen. In this respect Babesia behaves much more like malaria, in symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment.

Since doctors trained in the U.S. don’t know anything about malaria, they listen to a patient reporting persistent, relapsing flu-like illness characterized by drenching night sweats, extreme fatigue, “air hunger” (shortness of breath), and anemia. All of this is occurring because red blood cells are attacked by the Babesia germ.

Here’s a picture of Babesia in blood cells. Or here.

Although the one female patient had a history of Lyme disease, likely reactivated by recent stress in her life, the other three did not have any Lyme history. All had been ‘outdoorsy’ but may have had tick bites.

Symptoms in common with all were unexplained “fatigue,” body aches, and headaches. The older woman had bed drenching sweats which her doctors said was “just menopause.” Another was graphic about her “air hunger” although a pulmonologist said her lungs were fine. Indeed, they were “fine.” The blood going to her lungs wasn’t carrying enough oxygen.

The diagnostic testing for tick borne illnesses is singularly annoying because the

not-great tests (Quest, LabCorp) are covered by insurance, while the better tests (Igenex, InfectoLab), are not. Currently your best test covered by insurance for Lyme is the Western Blot test and the best test for Babesia is FISH, an acronym for Fluorescence in situ Hybridization which actually sees the parasites in the blood cells. By the way, this is the same way malaria is diagnosed. Here’s a picture of malaria in human red blood cells.

So, we’ve got this malaria-like illness transmitted by tick bites coming to us from tick rich areas. Chronic malaria, if you read the novels of Joseph Conrad and W. Somerset Maugham, can last for years. Same with Babesia, left untreated, well over a year or more, after which it seems to ‘burn out,’ but then can resurface during a period of stress when your immune system is compromised. We saw this during long COVID.

Lastly, treatment. Not surprisingly, you start with the same medications used for malaria, drugs like Atovaquone or Quinine with a regular antibiotic like azithromycin. The widely used herbs for malaria can also be helpful for Babesia: cryptoleptis, Chinese skullcap, Japanese knotweed.

Anyway, the real key is caution. Use a tick repellent spray when out in the woods; tuck your pants into your socks, tick checks, etc., etc.

And if you think you may have been infected with Lyme, Bartonella, or Babesia, schedule an appointment with one of our providers.

Be well,

David Edelberg, MD