Transfusion-acquired, autochthonous human babesiosis in Japan: isolation of Babesia microti-like parasites with hu-RBC-SCID mice.

ABSTRACT: We have isolated piroplasms from a patient who developed the first case of human babesiosis in Japan by using NOD/shi-scid mice whose circulating erythrocytes (RBCs) had been replaced with human RBCs (hu-RBC-SCID mice). Following inoculation of the patient's blood specimen into hu-RBC-SCID mice, parasites proliferated within the human RBCs in the mice, resulting in a high level of parasitemia. Parasite DNA was prepared from blood samples of the patient and the mice, and the nuclear small-subunit rRNA gene (rDNA) was amplified and sequenced. Both DNA samples gave rise to identical sequences which showed the highest degree of homology (99.2%) with the Babesia microti rDNA. Because the patient had received a blood transfusion before the onset of babesiosis, we investigated the eight donors wh

SUBMITTER: Saito-Ito A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC87629 | biostudies-literature | 2000 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature