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Severe babesiosis with associated splenic infarcts and asplenia

Zachary A Sporn1, Andrew Z Fenves2, David B Sykes3,4

  • 1Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.

Proceedings (Baylor University. Medical Center)
|August 30, 2021
PubMed

We describe two patients who presented with severe autoimmune hemolytic anemia in the setting of babesiosis. Notably, one patient was immunocompetent but was found to have splenic infarcts of uncertain duration, while the other patient developed disease in the context of asplenia secondary to prior surgical removal of the spleen. Both patients received antibiotics and transfusion support and eventually made a full recovery. While the patient in case 1 had parasitemia >10%, neither patient ultimately required therapeutic red blood cell exchange transfusion during the course of their respective hospitalizations. Our two cases emphasize the importance of recognizing the hemolytic anemia component of this potentially life-threatening infection, and the importance of rapidly initiating treatment in these complex clinical situations.

Keywords:
Autoimmune hemolytic anemiaBabesia microtibabesiosisparasitemiasplenic infarcts

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