Case report: spontaneous splenic rupture during acute parasitemia of Babesia microti.

Babesia is a malaria-like protozoan parasite spread by Ixodes ticks primarily from the white-footed deer mouse to humans. Typically it causes subclinical disease, but occasionally causes acute febrile disease with hepatosplenomegaly. We report a case of spontaneous splenic rupture of a 56-yr-old man with acute Babesia microti infection.

Murine cytomegalovirus infection markedly reduces serum MCP-1 levels in MCP-1 transgenic mice.

Monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) is a pro-inflammatory chemokine believed to play a major role in atherogenesis. Injured endothelial cells express MCP-1, which attracts monocytes to the blood vessel wall and leads to the formation of atheromas. Cytomegalovirus infection may also play a role in atherogenesis and accelerates inflammation in tissues that overexpress MCP-1.