Human babesiosis, an emerging tick-borne disease in the People’s Republic of China

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Authors

Zhou, Xia
Xia, Shang
Huang, Ji-Lei
Tambo, Ernest
Zhuge, Hong-Xiang
Zhou, Xiao-Nong

Journal Title

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Volume Title

Publisher

BioMed Central

Abstract

Babesiosis is a typical zoonotic, emerging disease caused by a tick-borne intraerythrocytic protozoan of Babesia spp. that also can be transmitted by blood transfusion. Babesiosis imposes an increasing public-health threat. We reviewed and mapped epidemiological studies on Babesia in vectors and/or rodents in the People’s Republic of China (P.R. China) and found that B. microti was the predominant species detected in the investigated regions such as Heilongjiang, Zhejiang, Fujian provinces and Taiwan island. We reviewed a series of sporadic human babesiosis cases collected from 1940’s to 2013, in Yunnan, Inner Mongolia, Taiwan and Zhejiang and other regions including a main endemic area of malaria on the China-Myanmar border areas in P.R. China. Clinical manifestations of human babesiosis were also reviewed. Human babesiosis may have previously been overlooked in P.R. China due to a lack of medical awareness and the limitation of clinical diagnostic methods.

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Keywords

Human babesiosis, Emerging disease, People’s Republic of China (P.R. China), Babesia spp.

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Citation

Zhou, X, Xia, S, Huang, JL, Tambo, E, Zhuge, HX & Zhou, XN 2014, 'Human babesiosis, an emerging tick-borne disease in the People’s Republic of China', Parasites and Vectors, vol. 7, art. 509., pp. 1-10.