BABESIA A PARASITE THAT RESEMBLES PLASMODIUM
Source
Designed on photogrid
Sunday blessings to you all my fellow Steemians. I am glad to be amidst you all once again. I am here today to share with you all a little knowledge I acquired in school recently. I hope you all find it interesting and learn from it too. Enjoy as you read.
ABOUT THE PARASITE |
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Some of us may have heard about this parasite as well as some of us may not know about it.
Babesia is a parasite that infects Red blood cells and destroy them. Morphologically it resembles Plasmodium that is the malaria parasite. The Babesia parasite causes a disease called Babesiosis which is Malaria cause by Ticks.
Most of us maybe wondering how this is possible? It is very possible through the bite of an infected tick. The sporozoites present in the saliva of the tick are introduced into man and they take the form of trophozoites as they enter the circulatory system of man, where they now invade red blood cells and rupture them.
Human Babesiosis can be Fatal in immunologically compromised individuals. The disease resembles Mild Malaria. An erythrocytic stage blood smear is always mistaken for malaria parasite unless there is a need to suspect Babesia. The usual manifestation of the infection is hemolytic Anaemia.
Pictures gotten from our WhatsApp class group and designed on Photogrid
You can see that these two blood films look soo alike and most at times people get wrongly diagnosed and end up taken medications and their situation keeps getting worse.
BABESIOSIS SYMPTOMS |
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It’s symptoms are almost same as Malaria. They include; Fever, Chills, Sweat, fatique, anorexia, nausea, headache etc.
PREVENTION |
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No vaccine is present for this disease. But we can always prevent it. Those who reside in areas where this disease is common can protect themselves by wearing protective clothings, applying ticks repellents etc.
SUGGESTED TREATMENT |
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Atovaquine, Azithromycin, Clindamycin along with quinine maybe given Intravenously.