A malaria drug can help people with recurring cases of babesiosis The drug helped cure four out of five patients who weren’t able to shake the tick-borne disease However, in successful cases it was administered as part of a multi-drug cocktail WEDNESDAY, June 5, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- A malaria drug could help immune-compromised people who can’t shake off babesiosis, a tick-borne parasitic infection, a new study says. The drug tafenoquine helped cure four New England patients whose babesiosis infections weren’t knocked out by the usual standard of care, researchers reported recently in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases . “Tafenoquine is going to make a huge difference, I think, in people who are severely immunocompromised,” said study first author Dr.
Peter Krause , a senior research scientist in the Yale School of Public Health Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases. Babesiosis is one of the most common tick-borne diseases in the world. In the United States, it’s found in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
It’s caused by parasitic microorganisms, and was first reported in humans in 1957, researchers said in background notes. As with malaria, the parasite invades red blood cells, which gave researchers the idea of trying tafenoquine against it. The infection typically causes fever, sweats, chills, headache, fatigue, weakness, and joint and muscle pain.
Babesiosis is typically treated using a straightforward two-drug combination of the antibiotic.
