Babesiosis and Sickle Red blood Cells: Loss of Deformability, Heightened Osmotic fragility, and Hypervesiculation

Babesiosis in sickle cell disease (SCD) is marked by severe anemia but the underlying red blood cell (RBC) rheological parameters remain largely undefined. Here, we describe altered RBC deformability from both primary (host RBC sickle hemoglobin mediated) and secondary changes (Babesia parasite infection mediated) to the RBC membrane using wild type AA, sickle trait AS and sickle SS RBCs. Our ektacytometry (LORRCA) analysis demonstrates that the changes in the host RBC bio-mechanical …