Human babesiosis may present slight flu-like signs or no symptoms at all in approximately a quarter of infected adults and half of the infected children making the disease go undiagnosed in many instances (Gray et al. 4). However, if the patient is splenectomized or is on immunosuppressive medication very severe symptoms such as hemoglobinuria (the presence of hemoglobin in the urine), relentless high fever, severe sweating, headache, and abdominal pain may occur. These symptoms greatly resemble those experienced in malaria. Babesiosis may also induce critical difficulties such as acute malfunction of the respiratory system, congestive heart breakdown, coma, and failure of the kidney.
This paper looks at the pathogenesis of Babesia microti, which is the most common Babesia species that cause human babesiosis. It pays attention to the life cycle of the parasite in the progression of the disease as well as the accompanying side effects.
