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.
A normal hemoglobin level (Hgb) is 11 to 18 grams per deciliter (g/dL), depending on your age and gender. But 7 to 8 g/dL is a safe level. A hemoglobin level of 7 m/dL or below should indicate the need for a blood transfusion in people who are otherwise medically stable.

Common symptoms of anemia are:

  • fatigue
  • weakness
  • shortness of breath
  • high heartrate
  • headaches
  • becoming paler, which is often first seen by checking inside the lower lids
  • lower blood pressure (especially if the anemia is caused by bleeding)
With a Hgb of 5.8 my main symptom was weakness and severe fatigue.
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.
there was a greater incidence of pulmonary edema, a common complication of blood transfusion, in the liberal transfusion strategy group (10.7% versus 5.3%) than in the restrictive group.

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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last updated 2 Apr 2019