Antibody
Detection
Diagnosis of Babesia
infection should be made by detection of parasites in patients' blood smears.
However, antibody detection tests are useful for detecting infected individuals with very low
levels of parasitemia (such as asymptomatic blood donors in transfusion-associated cases),
for diagnosis after infection is cleared by therapy, and for discrimination between
Plasmodium falciparum and Babesia infection in patients whose blood smear examinations
are inconclusive and whose travel histories cannot exclude either parasite.
The indirect fluorescent antibody test
(IFA) using B. microti parasites as antigen detects antibodies in
88-96% of patients with B. microti infection. IFA antigen slides are
prepared using washed, parasitized erythrocytes produced in hamsters. Patients' titers
generally rise to >1:1024 during the first weeks of illness and decline
gradually over 6 months to titers of 1:16 to 1:256 but may remain detectable at low levels
for a year or more. Specificity is 100% in patients with other tick-borne diseases or
persons not exposed to the parasite. Cross-reactions may occur in serum specimens from
patients with malaria infections, but generally titers are highest with the homologous
antigen.
The extent of cross-reactivity
between Babesia species is variable. A negative result with B. microti
antigen for a patient exposed on the West Coast may be a false-negative reaction for
Babesia infection. Individuals whose exposure could have occurred on the West Coast should
be tested also for antibodies to the Babesia WA1 species, because of the lack of
cross-reactivity with B. microti.
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A |
A: Positive IFA result with
B. microti antigen.
Reference:
Krause PJ, Telford S RI, Ryan
R, et al. Diagnosis of babesiosis: Evaluation of a serologic test for the detection
of Babesia microti antibody. J Infect Dis 1994;169:923-926.
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