Fatal Human Babesiosis in a Nine-Year Old Nigerian Girl

Background: Babesiosis is a rare emerging opportunistic disease in humans. It is a zoonotic disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Babesia and transmitted by Ixodid tick vector. It is often incidentally diagnosed because of its rarity but may be severe or fatal in presentation, particularly in immunocompromised hosts.

Aim: To reportthe clinical presentationof a fatal case of human babesiosis in a nine-year old girlwith retroviral disease, in Sokoto, Northern Nigeria.

Case Report: A nine-year old girl presented with a month history of unremitting fever, cough and weight loss, There was no history of contact with someone with chronic cough and no diarrhoea. She was diagnosed to have retroviral disease (RVD) at age of three (3) years consequent to her mother’s positive test but only the mother was on antiretroviral treatment, due to the claim that the child had remained healthy. Review of her blood film during third week of admission revealed characteristic tetrads (maltese-cross formation) pathognomonic of babesial infection. She was started on anti-babesial treatment with quinine and clindamycin. She succumbed to the illness within second week of anti-babesial treatment.

Conclusion: This report suggested that babesiosis should be a high index of suspicion especially in immunocompromised patients with persistent fever.