Forum Lyme Francophone

Parasitol Int. 2010 Sep;59(3):481-6. Epub 2010 Jun 9.
Artesunate, a potential drug for treatment of Babesia infection.
Goo YK, Terkawi MA, Jia H, Aboge GO, Ooka H, Nelson B, Kim S, Sunaga F, Namikawa K, Igarashi I, Nishikawa Y, Xuan X.

National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido, Japan.
Abstract
The effects of artesunate, a water-soluble artemisinin derivative, against Babesia species, including Babesia bovis, Babesia gibsoni and Babesia microti were studied. Cultures of B. bovis and B. gibsoni were treated with 0.26, 2.6, 26 and 260microM artesunate, showing inhibition of parasite growth at concentrations equal to and greater than 2.6microM artesunate by days 3 post-treatment for B. gibsoni and B. bovis in a dose-dependent manner. Consistent with in vitro experiments, artesunate was effective in the treatment of mice infected with B. microti at doses equal to and greater than 10mg/kg of body weight on days 8-10 post-infection. Taken together, these results suggest that artesunate could be a potential drug against Babesia infection.

PMID: 20541037 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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