Babesia (red-blood-cell parasite)
Babesia (parásito de los glóbulos rojos)
- Date
- 1888 · confidence high
- Place
- Bucharest, Romania
- Credited to
- Victor Babeș
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
The Romanian bacteriologist observed microorganisms inside the red cells of cattle with haemoglobinuria. They were blood-parasitic protozoa that now bear the name Babesia.
Babeș thought it was a bacterium (Haematococcus bovis); Smith and Kilborne (1893) identified them as protozoa and showed tick transmission in Texas fever. The genus Babesia commemorates Babeș.
What it led to
- babesiosis in cattle, dogs and humans
- demonstration of parasite transmission by ticks (Smith and Kilborne, 1893)
- the concept of arthropod-borne disease