COINFECTION WITH BABESIA-MICROTI AND BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI IN A WESTERN WISCONSIN RESIDENT

A 68-year-old woman, who had not traveled outside of western Wisconsin , was hospitalized after 4 weeks of chills, fevers, myalgias,neuralgia s in her right arm, and pain in the right upper quadrant of her abdome n, Physical examination revealed hepatosplenomegaly and laboratory stu dies showed anemia, thrombocytopenia, increased aspartate transaminase level, and microscopic hematuria, Wright's stain of a blood smear rev ealed intraerythrocytic organisms consistent with Babesia species, ii polymerase chain reaction of whole blood specimens along with an incre ased serologic titer confirmed the diagnosis of Babesia microti, Indir ect immunofluorescent antibody serology and Western blot analysis reve aled a simultaneous infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, Coinfection w ith B. microti and B. burgdorferi may occur in endemic areas where bot h organisms are carried by the same tick vector, Ixodes scapularis, Th e intensity and duration of illness seem to be greatest in patients wi th concurrent infection.