Placental transfer of Babesia

[Ricobord]

So the CDC has just added this case study to its web site of a proven transfer of Babesia from a pregnant mother to her child via the placenta.  This case happened 10 YEARS AGO!!  Wuldn't it have been good to get the word out to doctors and pregnant mothers a little quicker than that?  And others have published papers on this more.  How come they waited for this case to make it official?  Is that because if you aren't a member of the medical elite then you are ignored? (Notice the last name on the list of contributing doctors.)

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/18/8/11-0988_article.htm

[mojogal]

It is so unreal. I have a friend who passed Lyme and babs to her son in utero 28 years ago but nobody listens. It is so frustrating.

[Ricobord]

I don't know if they ask about Lyme when you donate blood, but when I called up the red cross to tell them I had given blood twice while infected, they only asked if I had symptoms when I donated.  I said no, but told them that they still needed to follow up with whoever got my blood to warn them.  I don't know if they do that or not.  I sure hope so.  Then they sent me a letter telling me I couldn't give blood until the specified date, which was the next day.  I emailed the guy who sent the letter telling him their auto-letter-generating program needed a bug fix and that it should have given a date a year from then. I never heard back.  I was not very impressed.

I know someone who gives blood regularly, and she said the form asks if she has ever had Babesiosis.  She didn't even know what it was.

They know that Babesia can be transmitted via blood transfusions and that it is difficult to find via tests.  They rely on screening out people with any symptoms indicating they might be sick.  (And yet the IDSA regularly refuses to treat people who test positive for various infectious diseases if they don"t have active symptoms.)

[JackieCalifornia]

From the article:

"In summary, babesiosis is an emerging infectious disease that can rarely cause congenital infection."

How do they KNOW it's rare?  What if it's just not noticed or tested for instead?  And yes, one of the authors is one of the original Lyme-deniers.

And the beat goes on.  

[JackieCalifornia]

Is donated blood tested for Lyme or the coinfections?  I would be surprised if it is.  Sigh.

[mkh9]

The medical community is very slow to change. Look how long it took doctors to believe that Helicobacter pylori causes ulcers instead of stress? Years after the man got the nobel prize. I bet some still don't believe it.