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Superior Efficacy of Tafenoquine/Atovaquone for Babesiosis Treatment

January 4, 2024

Journal of Infectious Disease (Vydyam, P., et al.) 01.03.2024 published ahead of print “Tafenoquine-Atovaquone Combination Achieves Radical Cure and Confers Sterile Immunity in Experimental Models of Human Babesiosis.” In this study, researchers demonstrate that treatment with tafenoquine (antimalarial drug) inhibits the growth of multiple Babesia species in vitro, shows great effectiveness against both Babesia microti and Babesia duncani in mice, and protects against lethal infection in animals from atovaquone-sensitive and resistant of B. duncani strains.

The study also found that eradication of disease is attained with use of combination of tafenoquine and atovaquone with no recurrence of disease in both human babesiosis models. Drug treatment that resulted in elimination of B. duncani infection in animals also confers immunity with subsequent exposures to this pathogen.

Combination tafenoquine/atovaquone treatment shows superior efficacy of over current therapies for the treatment of human babesiosis and provides potential for protective immunity against future Babesia infections.

NOTE: Co-Author of this article, Choukri Ben Mamoun, presented Human Babesiosis as keynote speaker at the LDA-Columbia Lyme & Tick-Borne Conference in October 2023.

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Access to the Journal of Infectious Disease Article

Choukri Ben Mamoun, LDA/Columbia Conference 2023