Acute Babesiosis Caused byBabesia divergensin a Resident of Kentucky

Abstract
Babesia divergens is the primary cause of human babesiosis in Europe, resulting in fatality rates of 42 percent among persons who have undergone splenectomy and 5 percent among persons with intact spleens.1 The known vector tick, Ixodes ricinus, 2 is not indigenous to North America. We report what we believe to be the first human case of babesiosis caused by B. divergens in North America.