# 5817
I’ve been dealing with an extremely flakey ISP connection all day, and so I’ve just now come across Maryn McKenna’s write up on today’s announcement by the CDC regarding the threat of Babesia to the blood supply.
Babesia is a tickborne parasite that causes a condition called babesiosis. Some people may be infected by this parasite without knowing it, while others can experience life threatening illness.
The CDC issued a press release today on the need for a test for Babesia that can be used to screen the blood supply.
U.S. Blood Supply Vulnerable to Parasitic Infection Spread by Ticks
To reduce risk, Babesia test is needed to screen blood donors
ATLANTA, Sept. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Babesia, a tickborne parasite of red blood cells, is being transmitted through blood transfusions, according to results of a collaborative study, led by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, of data from the past three decades. Transfusion-associated cases of babesiosis have been increasingly recognized since 1979, the year the first known case occurred.
The article about the study and an accompanying editorial appear today online in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In the report, CDC and collaborators describe 159 transfusion-related babesiosis cases that occurred during 1979–2009, most (77 percent) from 2000 to 2009. No Babesia test approved by the Food and Drug Administration is available for screening prospective blood donors, who can feel fine despite being infected.
Maryn McKenna, writing today on her Superbug Blog, has more background on this story, and so I’ll step out of the way and direct you to:
Tick-Borne Infections Infiltrate U.S. Blood Supply
Maryn McKenna
