Don's Home Health Pathogens Babesiosis | |
Babesiosis is a disease caused by microscopic parasites that infect red blood cells. Many different species (types) of Babesia parasites have been found in animals, only a few of which have been found in people.
Anemia is diagnosed if a blood test finds less than 13.5 g/dL in a man or less than 12 g/dL in a woman. Common symptoms of anemia are:
They gave me 3 pints of blood and kept me in the hospital for 6 days while administering antibiotics to kill the babesia protozoa. The antibiotics could have caused heart problems, which was why they kept me in the hospital until my Hgb was up to 9 g/dL.
In a 1999 study (Herbert) patients not receiving tranfusions until the hemoglobin level Hgb (g/dL) was below 7 (restrictive group) had lower mortality than those treated when it fell below 10. In a study of untransfused Jehovah's Witnesses 23 deaths were attributed to anemia concentrations of 5 g/dl or less. There were 25 survivors with a hemoglobin of 5 g/dl or less. In patients with cardiovascular disease who underwent surgery and declined blood transfusion those with Hgb of less than 6 g/dl had a mortality rate of 33.3%.
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