Persing D H, Conrad P A
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA.
Infect Agents Dis. 1995 Dec;4(4):182-95.
Piroplasms of the genus Babesia, along with their relatives to the Theileridae, comprise a genetically and antigenically diverse group of tick-transmitted intraerythrocytic pathogens that together have considerable veterinary, medical, and economic importance. Since the first description of a human case of babesiosis in 1957, this zoonotic infection has now attained a worldwide distribution. In the northeastern and upper midwestern United States, the transmission cycle of Babesia microti overlaps that of another well-known zoonotic agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease. Phylogenetic analysis of Babesia and Babesia-like piroplasms from human and animal sources has shown that many of the small Babesia spp., including B. microti, B. equi, B. gibsoni, and a recently described piroplasm infectious for humans known as WA1, may be phylogenetically related to Theileria. Implications of this observation may include the possible existence of an exoerythrocytic stage of parasite development and attendant features of chronicity, immune suppression, and perhaps lymphoproliferation. In this review, we provide a brief summary of recent developments in the study of Babesia and related piroplasms and speculate on the ramifications of chronic babesial infection in humans.
巴贝斯属的梨形虫及其泰勒科的亲缘种，构成了一组遗传和抗原各异的蜱传播红细胞内病原体，它们总体上具有相当大的兽医、医学和经济重要性。自1957年首次描述人类巴贝斯虫病病例以来，这种人畜共患病感染现已在全球范围内传播。在美国东北部和中西部上游地区，微小巴贝斯虫的传播周期与另一种著名的人畜共患病病原体——莱姆病的病原体伯氏疏螺旋体的传播周期重叠。对来自人和动物源的巴贝斯虫及巴贝斯虫样梨形虫的系统发育分析表明，许多小巴贝斯虫种，包括微小巴贝斯虫、马巴贝斯虫、吉氏巴贝斯虫以及最近描述的一种对人类有传染性的梨形虫WA1，在系统发育上可能与泰勒虫有关。这一观察结果的影响可能包括寄生虫发育的红细胞外期可能存在，以及随之而来的慢性、免疫抑制以及可能的淋巴细胞增殖特征。在这篇综述中，我们简要总结了巴贝斯虫及相关梨形虫研究的最新进展，并推测了人类慢性巴贝斯虫感染的后果。
