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Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review

Babesia microti is an obligate intra-erythrocytic parasite transmitted by infected ticks. B. microti is a eukaryote much larger than prokaryotic microbes and more similar to human hosts in their biochemistry and metabolism. Moreover, Babesia spp. possess various immune evasion mechanisms leading to...

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Autores principales: Conte, Harry A., Biondi, Michael C., Janket, Sok-Ja, Ackerson, Leland K., Diamandis, Eleftherios P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: De Gruyter 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36185407
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/biol-2022-0448
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author Conte, Harry A.
Biondi, Michael C.
Janket, Sok-Ja
Ackerson, Leland K.
Diamandis, Eleftherios P.
author_facet Conte, Harry A.
Biondi, Michael C.
Janket, Sok-Ja
Ackerson, Leland K.
Diamandis, Eleftherios P.
author_sort Conte, Harry A.
collection PubMed
description Babesia microti is an obligate intra-erythrocytic parasite transmitted by infected ticks. B. microti is a eukaryote much larger than prokaryotic microbes and more similar to human hosts in their biochemistry and metabolism. Moreover, Babesia spp. possess various immune evasion mechanisms leading to persistent and sometimes life-threatening diseases in immunocompromised hosts. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent adult B-cell malignancy, and a small percentage of CLL transforms into aggressive lymphomas. CLL also causes immune dysfunction due to the over-expansion of immature and ineffective B-cells. When our patient with indolent CLL presented with anemia, pancytopenia, and splenomegaly, all his healthcare providers presumptively assumed a malignant transformation of CLL. However, these are also the signs and symptoms of babesiosis. Herein, we report a case where B. microti infection was presumed as a malignant transformation of CLL and narrowly avoided a devastating outcome. Although the patient developed fulminant sepsis, he finally received the correct diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, the disease recrudesced twice. Each time, it became more difficult to control the infection. We describe the clinical course of the case and discuss the case-specific literature review. This report highlights the importance of differential diagnoses ruling out infections which include babesiosis, prior to initiating the treatment of B-cell malignancy.
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spelling pubmed-94838302022-10-01 Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review Conte, Harry A. Biondi, Michael C. Janket, Sok-Ja Ackerson, Leland K. Diamandis, Eleftherios P. Open Life Sci Case Report Babesia microti is an obligate intra-erythrocytic parasite transmitted by infected ticks. B. microti is a eukaryote much larger than prokaryotic microbes and more similar to human hosts in their biochemistry and metabolism. Moreover, Babesia spp. possess various immune evasion mechanisms leading to persistent and sometimes life-threatening diseases in immunocompromised hosts. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most prevalent adult B-cell malignancy, and a small percentage of CLL transforms into aggressive lymphomas. CLL also causes immune dysfunction due to the over-expansion of immature and ineffective B-cells. When our patient with indolent CLL presented with anemia, pancytopenia, and splenomegaly, all his healthcare providers presumptively assumed a malignant transformation of CLL. However, these are also the signs and symptoms of babesiosis. Herein, we report a case where B. microti infection was presumed as a malignant transformation of CLL and narrowly avoided a devastating outcome. Although the patient developed fulminant sepsis, he finally received the correct diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, the disease recrudesced twice. Each time, it became more difficult to control the infection. We describe the clinical course of the case and discuss the case-specific literature review. This report highlights the importance of differential diagnoses ruling out infections which include babesiosis, prior to initiating the treatment of B-cell malignancy. De Gruyter 2022-09-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9483830/ /pubmed/36185407 http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/biol-2022-0448 Text en © 2022 Harry A. Conte et al., published by De Gruyter https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
spellingShingle Case Report
Conte, Harry A.
Biondi, Michael C.
Janket, Sok-Ja
Ackerson, Leland K.
Diamandis, Eleftherios P.
Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title_full Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title_fullStr Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title_full_unstemmed Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title_short Babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: A case report and the case-specific literature review
title_sort babesia microti-induced fulminant sepsis in an immunocompromised host: a case report and the case-specific literature review
topic Case Report
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483830/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36185407
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/biol-2022-0448
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