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Volume 15, Number 5—May 2009
Dispatch

Probable Congenital Babesiosis in Infant, New Jersey, USA

Sonia Sethi, David Alcid, Hemant Kesarwala, and Robert W. TolanComments to Author 
Author affiliations: The Children’s Hospital at Monmouth Medical Center, Long Branch, New Jersey, USA (S. Sethi); Saint Peter’s University Hospital, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA (D. Alcid, H. Kesarwala, R.W. Tolan, Jr.); Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick (D. Alcid); Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA (H. Kesarwala, R.W. Tolan, Jr.)

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Table 2

Selected clinical data from the first 2 reported cases of congenital babesiosis (3,4) and the probable case described in this article*

Clinical data Reference case 1 Reference case 2 Present case
Infant’s age at time of illness 30 d 5 wk 26 d
Time of maternal tick bite before delivery
 1 wk
 7 wk
 4 wk
Serologic test results for Babesia spp.
Mother Pos Pos Pos
Infant
 Pos
 Pos
 Pos
Clinical findings Fever, irritability, pallor, hepatosplenomegaly Lethargy, poor feeding, pallor Fever, poor feeding, irritability, pallor, scleral icterus, hepatosplenomegaly
Parasitemia, % 5 4.4 15
Treatment (duration) Ampicillin and gentamicin (3 d); clindamycin and quinine sulfate (10 d) Clindamycin and quinine sulfate (12 d); azithromycin (10 d) Ceftriaxone (8 d); atovaquone and azithromycin (10 d)

*All infants’ history of tick exposure was negative, and all recovered.

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