B divergens is the only babesia they look for in humans, tests and doctors will almost systematically miss EU1 which gets transmitted much more easily as the infectious sporozoites are found in large numbers in the salivary glands of ticks

 

So 48 hrs minimum attachment for ticks to infect their vertebrate hosts?????

Nelly

http://www.cdc.gov:80/eid/content/15/2/320.htm
(...)
Conclusions
Our study shows that I. ricinus ticks are competent vectors for Babesia sp. EU1. Not only can these ticks carry Babesia sp. EU1 DNA, but more importantly, they enable these parasites to complete their life cycle up to the production of infectious sporozoites. ***Direct invasion of erythrocytes by Babesia sp. EU1 undoubtedly classifies this species in the genus Babesia, a feature generally not proven for most Babesia spp.

The proportions of Babesia sp. EU1-infective ticks found in our study (3/223 from cattle farm and 2/31 from wild fauna reserve, not statistically different) are comparable to published prevalence of infected ticks (1%-2%) collected either from animals or vegetation (6-8,14,15). Whatever the biotope, Babesia sp. EU1 is always present, threatening also in anthropized zones (farming areas). ****Millions of parasites inside salivary glands were observed and could be injected to the vertebrate host, from the early stage of the tick feeding**** (11.7 mg) until repletion (277 mg), which represents a massive infection. These 2 epidemiologic features, combined with the increasing number of immunocompromised persons, should lead to more awareness of the risk related to this zoonotic pathogen.

B. divergens sporozoites were ***never seen in the salivary glands of adult I. ricinus ticks, even when ticks were collected from cattle. This finding is despite the large number of ticks examined (223), the prevalence of nymphs carrying B. divergens DNA collected from the farm pastures (87% in 2007 on 113 nymphs analyzed, data not shown), as well as the infectious status of the herd (serologic prevalence 56%). We therefore raise questions about the main transmitting stage (larvae, nymph, or adult?) and about the quantitative transmission of B. divergens by I. ricinus ticks (low number of produced and infectious sporozoites?). In Europe, human babesiosis could be caused by these 2 Babesia spp., each of which is transmitted by I. ricinus ticks but probably with different sporozoite-production features.