CDC Reports that U.S. Blood Supply Vulnerable to Parasitic Infection

According to a recent release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the blood supply in the United States may be vulnerable to a parasitic infection from ticks. The infection, known as Babesia is a a tickborne parasite of red blood cells.

In an effort to reduce the risk to the public a screening test for Babeisa would be needed on blood which is donated for later use in blood transfusions. Currently, however no FDA approved screening test is available, but some manufacturers are currently at work to develop one.

Babesiosis can be fatal but is treatable is caught in time. The affects of an untreated infection include multi–organ failure and death. Those most at risk are individuals without a spleen, the elderly, and those with a weak immune system.

According to the data collected over the past 30 years by the CDC, the instances of babesiosis have been on the rise. The first case was reported in 1979 and, from that time through 2009, there have been 159 cases of the infection resulting from a blood transfusion. The growing concern stems from the fact that 77 percent of the total number of instances occurred in the last 10 years of the study.

The complete report including additional documentation was published and is available in the online Annals of Internal Medicine.

The article about the study and an accompanying editorial appear today online in the Annals of Internal Medicine.