Does anyone care to comment on the sexual transmissability of Babesiosis? My wife and I have both had positive FISH tests from Igenix.
She's spent precious little time in the woods, I spent nearly every waking hour in the woods. I lived in Illinois and spent a lot of time in WI, MI, MN, and MO. I've also hiked the eastern states here and there over the years.
My wife has spent about a half hour in the woods her entire adult life.
We did though live in a place for a few years in which bed-bugs may have been prevalant. My understanding is that bed bugs first inject saliva and then drink blood, in a fashion not unlike a tick.
Also, does anyone know how prevalent Babesia might be in the Central American Countries of Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
They have other diseases similar to babesia down there in Central America. Search babesiosis on Wikipedia, and you will probably find other diseases mentioned you can click on. Or search something like piroplasmosis. In that malaria, etc family there are a bunch of them.
Posted by Keebler (Member # 12673) on :
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I can't answer your first question. However, people who have a history of babesia are forbidden from donating blood during their lifetime. That says a lot.
[edited to add: there have been documented cases of babesia acquired from organ transplants and blood transfusions.]
So, depending upon how transmission works, it would seem that any blood to blood contact could be suspect.
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She would not have to be in the woods to become infected with babesia or any other tick-borne disease (TBD). People who live in NYC have been know to have various TBDs - perhaps through gardening or just spending time walking in a park or playing with a dog, or other pet.
Anywhere there are birds, mice, rats . . . nearly any sort of animal, there can be ticks. Of course not all carry lyme or TBD, but the possibility is there.
And mosquitoes have been found to carry some of the diseases normally attributed to ticks.
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As for bedbugs, it is a growing problem around the world and it might be a consideration but, I've not read about that. I'd ask a LLMD or an ILADS researcher. www.ilads.org
Of course, in Central American, Chagras is one of the more devastating - and hard to detect - vector-borne diseases, but it's in the U.S., too. I don't know if that would have cross reactivity with any of the TBD, but it's something to consider.
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Although this seems to focus on bovine forms and transmission, here's a start for searching out the answer to your second question:
Epidemiology of babesiosis and anaplasmosis in South and Central America.
Guglielmone AA.
Instituto Nacional de Tecnolog�a Agropecuaria, Estaci�n Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela, Santa Fe, Argentina.
Babesiosis (Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina) and anaplasmosis (Anaplasma marginale) affect native cattle from Uruguay and northern Argentina to Guatemala.
The distribution of Babesia follows the dissemination of the tick vector. Seroepidemiological studies showed that enzootic instability exist in herds in several areas of the region.
However, clinical cases occurred less frequently than expected. The babesial tick infection rate is related to the vector abundance which in turn is regulated by climate.
Bos indicus cattle, because of tick resistance, are less likely to be infected by the vector. This can result in herd instability, but clinically is partly compensated by the resistance of Bos indicus and their crosses to babesiosis.
Excessive use of acaricides and rotational grazing appears to be related to outbreaks of babesiosis especially in dairy cattle.
Factors involved in the epidemiology and transmission of anaplasmosis are not well defined. The role of ticks, haematophagous diptera, iatrogenic and intrauterine transmissions needs to be investigated under local conditions. Therefore, the knowledge of this disease is meager.
Utilization of biotechnological methods may help in obtaining information on Babesia-Boophilus-Bos relationship and on the transmission of A. marginale.
PMID: 7597777
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Good luck. I hope you can find excellent medical care. My guess is that, with Igenex tests, you are on the right path.
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[ 04. September 2008, 11:44 PM: Message edited by: Keebler ]
Posted by anthropisces (Member # 15672) on :
I don't believe that Babesia is transmitted sexually. I also think that if the FISH test is indeed accurate, and if my wife and I do indeed have this malady, then we must have contracted it while we were together.
Since we've spent zero time together in the woods, I'm assuming we contracted it somewhere else.
We lived for a time in a neighborhood known to have bedbugs. The house also had mice. If the good folks from Central America have Babesia or Babesia-like organisms, then that could also be a factor. Virtually all of our neighbors were immigrants from Guatemala.
We also have a dog. The dog has had ticks. I am doubtful that any of those ticks ever bit any of us. There is no way to be sure of course.
So I'm thinking that we got the Babesia while living together, and possibly from the dog. Perhaps we should get the dog tested for Babesia.
Posted by TheTruth (Member # 17100) on :
To propose a theory of sexual transmission of babesiosis, given that no such evidence of this sort of transmission has ever occured, would seem odd. It can clearly be transmitted via blood (as documented by transfusion related occurences), but a sexual mode is less likely.
A dog, on the other hand, especially if it harbors a vector containing the organism, would be highly likely.
Posted by SForsgren (Member # 7686) on :
One of my LLMDs has suggested that 10% of people with Lyme might have gotten it via sexual transmission but that for Babesia it is 1 in 5000 or less cases.
Posted by zil (Member # 12048) on :
I see a LLMD in the midwest who has taken care of TBD patients since 1988. He doesn't think it's sexually transmitted as he has seen a lot of patients whose spouse doesn't have it.
Posted by Angelica (Member # 15601) on :
I know someone who thinks they received Morgellons from a bedbug bite.
My bet would be ticks from your dog. A tiny tick could bite you and feed on you and you might never know it until you get sick.
Posted by pryorka (Member # 13649) on :
In regard to what hoosiers151 said, don't check anything on wikipedia. I've checked into who edits those pages and they are medical students and microbiologists that work under infectious disease doctors in the U.S. If you want good information you have to find information that did not come from anyone associated with IDSA.
On the wikipedia site it even says babesiosis usually goes away on its own. If that was the case asymptomatic people wouldn't be polluting the blood supply.
So be careful about wikipedia, anyone can write whatever they want on there and certain groups have people edit the pages to advocate for them or their organization.
I have read that babesiosis probably exists in tropical climates but it usually gets confused with malaria.
Posted by Hoosiers51 (Member # 15759) on :
You shouldn't necessarily believe anything you read anywhere.......I like to use Wikipedia to know the mechanisms of action of pharmaceuticals and the scientific classifications of pathogens. With the controversial topics, you will just have to form your own conclusions.
If I had to guess, I would say your dog was carrying some nasty ticks and that is how you and your wife both ended up with it.
Posted by glittergirl34 (Member # 13598) on :
I do believe it is sexually transmittable unless you are both being treated for it when you are sleeping together. I know I got rid of it once and then my husband gave it back to me, chills, hallucinations, and pouring sweats all over again. I say if there's a doubt pull out or use a condom.
Posted by anthropisces (Member # 15672) on :
Is Malaria sexually transmissible?
Is Babesia indeed very similar to Malaria?
I'm sure you are getting my drift. I don't buy that babs is sexually transmissible.
Posted by Angelica (Member # 15601) on :
glitter girl if the pull out method of birth control (if you could call it birth control) does not work as birth control meaning it produces offspring then I doubt it would prevent sexual transmission of diseases.