Molecular characterization of a non-Babesia divergens organism causing zoonotic babesiosis in Europe. (Research). From: Emerging Infectious Diseases | Date: August 1, 2003| Author: Herwaldt, Barbara L.; Caccio, Simone; Gherlinzoni, Filippo; Aspock, Horst; Slemenda, Susan B.; Piccaluga, PierPaolo; Martinelli, Giovanni; Edelhofer, Renate; Hollenstein, Ursula; Poletti, Giovanni; Pampiglione, Silvio; Loschenberger, Karin; Tura, Sante; Pieniazek, Norman J. | COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. National Center for Infectious Diseases. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

In Europe, most reported human cases of babesiosis have been attributed, without strong molecular evidence, to infection with the bovine parasite Babesia divergens. We investigated the first known human cases of babesiosis in Italy and Austria, which occurred in two asplenic men. The complete 18S ribosomal RNA (18S rRNA) gene was amplified from specimens of their whole blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). With phylogenetic analysis, we compared the DNA sequences of the PCR prod...