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The following is a summary of “A set of diagnostic tests for detection of active Babesia duncani infection,” published in the October 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Chand et al.
Human babesiosis, a potentially fatal tick-borne disease, is caused by intraerythrocytic parasites of the Babesia genus, with Babesia duncani being a particularly severe and life-threatening species.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to identify biomarkers of active Babesia duncani infection, as current molecular assays alone were insufficient for reliable diagnosis and disease management.
They developed the initial B. duncani antigen capture assays aimed at 2 immunodominant antigens, BdV234 and BdV38 and were validated through established in vitro and in vivo B. duncani infection models and post-drug treatment.
The results showed that the assays exhibited no cross-reactivity with other species, including B. microti, B. divergens, Babesia MO1, or Plasmodium falciparum, and could detect as few as 115 infected erythrocytes per microliter (µl) of blood. Screening of 1,731 blood samples from various biorepositories, including samples previously identified as Lyme disease and/or Babesia microti-positive, found no evidence of Babesia duncani infection or cross-reactivity.
Investigators concluded that these assays demonstrated considerable potential for applications such as point-of-care testing for early detection in patients with Babesia duncani, field tests for screening reservoir hosts, and high-throughput screening of blood samples for transfusion.
Source: sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1201971224002492
