Babesia and Low Blood Count

Did blood panel after 2 months of treating Babs /w Clindamycin/Plaquenil combo and my white blood cell count is abnormally low (3.37/uL). REd Blood Cell Distribution width is also low. So babs is a blood parasite and lives inside the cell, if I am killing it off, will it destroy the cell and cause my count to be low? This is a good thing right?

If that’s the case. Should I eat some red meat to build my blood back? Any other methods for this?

Post Edited (Xabian) : 3/21/2021 11:45:08 AM (GMT-6)

the Wikipedia article on RBCDW seems decent

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_blood_cell_distribution_width

basically, its a measure of the range of sizes of your red blood cells and is usually used in conjunction with other tests when anemia is suspected to give some clues as to teh cause.

as some causes of anemia cause all RBC to be bigger - and some cause both big and small RBC - as a result, these give different RBCDW

"Deficiencies of Vitamin B12 or folate produce a macrocytic anemia (large cell anemia) in which the RDW is elevated in roughly two-thirds of all cases. However, a varied size distribution of red blood cells is a hallmark of iron deficiency anemia, and as such shows an increased RDW in virtually all cases. In the case of both iron and B12 deficiencies, there will normally be a mix of both large cells and small cells, causing the RDW to be elevated. An elevated RDW (red blood cells of unequal sizes) is known as anisocytosis.

An elevation in the RDW is not characteristic of all anemias. Anemia of chronic disease, hereditary spherocytosis, acute blood loss, aplastic anemia (anemia resulting from an inability of the bone marrow to produce red blood cells), and certain hereditary hemoglobinopathies (including some cases of thalassemia minor) may all present with a normal RDW."

i would guess a blood parasite is a different case - as some RBC will be infected and hopefully killed early - causing more new ones to be created and in general a slight shift upwards in the average size of RBC - rather than a change in the distribution

a lot of us with these odd infections do get odd CBC results - i typically have one marker out every time i have a test done.
however, infection rates in red blood cells in chronic babesiosis is typically in the order of 1 per thousand cells and one per 10,000 cells ( ie very low proportion indeed ) so if only infected cells are killed its not going to have a measurable effect on RBCDW - so it may well be that these changes are more immune or auto-immune mediated rather than direct infection and could also be a reaction to treatment - therefore v hard to predict.

other infections like Bart also affect bone marrow where the red blood cells are made - so this is perhaps another potential mechanism.

i would be inclined to have the test done again in a month and see if the change is persistent - and if it is then look deeper into possible causes for anemia - but perhaps not worry too much about a single test result if there are not other strong markers of anemia present

babesia does not infect white blood cells - but may impact their numbers through immunosuppression mechanisms - but low counts are common in chronically ill people.