The research study uses a combination of the drugs tafenoquine and atovaquone to treat Babesia. The original study was published in The Journal Of Infectious Diseases back in January so it might have already been shared here. It was conducted by The Yale School Of Medicine.
"Clinicians typically treat infections with combinations of CDC-recommended medications, including combination therapies of atovaquone and azithromycin or clindamycin and quinine. A growing number of infections, many of those in Connecticut, are resistant to existing therapies. A Yale-led team’s new therapeutic strategy completely clears—and builds immunity against—drug-resistant Babesia parasites.
Drug-resistant babesiosis may respond to a novel combination therapy, researchers say. The treatment, which involves the antimalarial drug tafenoquine and the anti-fungal/anti-parasite drug atovaquone, may also provide immunity against future babesiosis infections.
First, the team cultured several species of Babesia in human red blood cells. Then, they administered tafenoquine and monitored the effect on parasite growth. These experiments revealed that the drug was effective in blocking parasitic growth.
The team next turned to a mouse model of babesiosis. Researchers treated infected mice with tafenoquine once a day from three to seven days post-infection. After day seven, the drug had effectively cleared the infection from the mice and protected the animals from death. They also studied tafenoquine in immunocompromised mice infected with the most common Babesia parasite, Babesia microti, and found that the drug effectively cleared the infection in four out of six immunocompromised mice.
Then, the researchers evaluated tafenoquine’s effectiveness against drug-resistant Babesia. They infected mice with a drug-resistant strain of Babesia duncani, one of several Babesia species that infect humans. Once again, they found that tafenoquine, as a monotherapy, was highly effective in clearing resistant B. ducani strains from the mice.
Still, they felt that a combination therapy might be even more potent, especially in immunocompromised models that didn’t have a 100% success rate with tafenoquine alone. So next, they tested a combination therapy of tafenoquine and atovaquone in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised mice. Atovaquone is one of the drugs the CDC currently recommends for the treatment of babesiosis. Using mice infected with Babesia duncani or Babesia microti, they found that this combination of drugs was effective in curing infections across all animal models, including the immunocompromised mice."
click here for the original paper
Post Edited (pinkblossom) : 5/19/2024 3:49:52 AM (GMT-8)