Babesia - Prevention

Prevention

The most effective public health measure for Babesia is avoidance of tick exposure. This can be performed through personal prevention strategies such as avoiding tick-infested areas (especially during high tick season between May and September), remaining covered with light clothing, searching for ticks after being outdoors, and removing discovered ticks from the skin. Other preventive measures include applying diethyltoluamide (DEET), a common repellent that is effective against ticks and insects. (For people who react adversely to DEET, alternative insect repellents should be used.) On a state level, if health departments are particularly motivated, tick elimination is a possibility. In 1906, efforts were made to eradicate the tick vector of the bovine disease form of babesiosis in the United States. This eradication was recorded as being successfully completed four decades later. Complete eradication efforts would be a long-term project, which would significantly reduce the prevalence of both babesiosis and Lyme disease. However, as public health departments are often short on funding, preventive measures seem to be more recommended over vector control. Due to the relatively low prevalence of the disease and the presence of several reservoirs, babesiosis is currently not a candidate for vaccine-based prevention. In regions where ticks of domestic animals are routinely controlled with chemical acaricides to reduce incidence of infection with Babesia bovis and Babesia bigemina, the risk to humans from these parasitess will be reduced.