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 “In a new case study, researchers from North Carolina State University found that a family suffering from illnesses that included neurological symptoms were co-infected with both several Bartonella species and Babesia divergens-like MO-1. The study presents more evidence of these co-infections in humans and further support for stealth Babesia and Bartonella pathogens as a cause or cofactor in neurological and neuropsychiatric symptoms. ...” 

“ ... “The Babesia finding was especially surprising due to the species involved,” Breitschwerdt says. “B. divergens-like MO-1 has only been documented in three or four human cases in the U.S. and never reported in a dog. To find it in an entire family means that transmission may be more frequent and symptoms more complicated than we currently understand.”

“What was incredible to me is how this family clearly demonstrated why a One Heath approach to physical and neuropsychiatric illness is needed,” says Dr. Rosalie Greenberg, a child and adolescent psychiatrist in private practice and paper co-author. “A family is a complex system that includes all living members which means humans, dogs, cats, rabbits and any other creatures that share the same environment.”

“The other piece to this work is that we continue to build the case for the role of vector-transmitted organisms in illnesses, both neurological and chronic in nature,” Breitschwerdt adds. “These organisms may prove to be far more important in causing neurological illnesses than anyone dreamed.”

The work appears in Pathogens and was supported by the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation. NC State researchers Ricardo Maggi, Charlotte Moore, Cynthia Robveille and Emily Kingston also contributed to the work.”

SEE: Case Study: Bartonella, Babesia Co-Infection in Family Associated with Neurological Illnesses | NC State News

https://news.ncsu.edu/blog/2025/02/04/case-study-bartonella-babesia-co-infection-in-family-associated-with-neurological-illnesses/