I know that babs comes from a tic that gets it from an infected animal. Where did the infected animal get it from? Just my mind over working this am. Any ideas?
Posted by Razzle (Member # 30398) on :
My opinion: Many parasites have their origins in stagnant water. Some are carried by mosquitos (which breed in the stagnant water) and then passed on to other animals. Some are consumed directly by the animal when it drinks the infected water. And possibly some infected animals get the infection from another animal - example, a preditor eats an infected prey (such as a hawk eating a mouse) and then the preditor becomes infected.
I don't have actual facts to back this up, just going on what I've learned from Biology and reading about Lyme/coinfections and stuff...
Posted by Lymetoo (Member # 743) on :
Is this a chicken and egg thing!? Posted by seibertneurolyme (Member # 6416) on :
Most strains of babs are specific for one type of animal -- for example there are strains that are more common in dogs or sheep or cows or mice etc. I think they just keep getting passed around by ticks and possibly other biting insects.
Pretty sure babs can only live in red blood cells and could not survive in water or outside of a host animal.
Once infected a person or animal could pass the infection on to an uninfected tick I think or an infected tick could pass the infection to an uninfected human or animal. Pretty sure it can be passed both ways.
The maltese cross formation which is diagnositic for babesia is really 4 new babesia organisms within 1 red blood cell -- so the number of babesia organisms quickly multiplies in an infected host.
Bea Seibert
Posted by Dawn in VA (Member # 9693) on :
white-footed mouse is a common host in the chain. birds, too.
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