The zoonotic babesiosis is a growing public health concern. This parasite mainly occurs in U.S.
(B. microti) and Europe (B. divergens & B. venatorum). Emerging cases have been increasingly
reported worldwide especially in immunosuppressed individuals. Other than tick bite, possible
modes of infection include perinatal transmission and blood transfusion. To date, in Egypt, three
cases of human babesiosis were reported. This study evaluated Babesia spp. infection in man in
Qena City. Forty three persons were examined. All sera were subjected to serological examination
using either indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFA) or western blot (WB) analysis or both
tests. Using IFA 13/43 patients were positive for Babesia at different titers. The five out of the
13 positive IFAT samples were positive by using WB test (11.6%). This could be the first study
in Qena that screened Egyptian patients using well-defined Babesia strain for human babesiosis.
Blood transfusion is a possible babesiosis mode of infection to man and thus patients in need of
blood transfusion may undergo immunosuppressive status so they may develop babesiosis, so
screening of blood donors for human babesiosis is needed to exclude transfusion induced
babesiosis.