Question:
Which of the following is the carrying agent (vector) for the disease showing the given characteristic appearance on microscopy?
Which of the following is the carrying agent (vector) for the disease showing the given characteristic appearance on microscopy?
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Maltese cross in RBCs means babesiosis; recall its hard-tick vector.
Updated On: Jun 24, 2026
- Anopheles
- Ixodes scapularis tick
- Louse
- Rat flea
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The Correct Option is B
Solution and Explanation
Step 1: Identify the finding. The image shows the Maltese cross, a tetrad of four parasites inside a red blood cell with their pointed ends meeting at the centre. This is pathognomonic of babesiosis.
Step 2: Link disease to vector. Babesiosis is an intraerythrocytic infection transmitted by the Ixodes scapularis tick, the same tick that transmits Lyme disease.
Step 3: Distinguish from malaria. Babesiosis can mimic Plasmodium falciparum malaria but is told apart by the presence of the Maltese cross (absent in malaria) and the absence of the pigment hemozoin (present in malaria).
Step 4: Why the distractors are wrong. Anopheles transmits malaria, the louse transmits epidemic typhus and relapsing fever, and the rat flea transmits plague, none of which produce the Maltese cross.
Step 2: Link disease to vector. Babesiosis is an intraerythrocytic infection transmitted by the Ixodes scapularis tick, the same tick that transmits Lyme disease.
Step 3: Distinguish from malaria. Babesiosis can mimic Plasmodium falciparum malaria but is told apart by the presence of the Maltese cross (absent in malaria) and the absence of the pigment hemozoin (present in malaria).
Step 4: Why the distractors are wrong. Anopheles transmits malaria, the louse transmits epidemic typhus and relapsing fever, and the rat flea transmits plague, none of which produce the Maltese cross.
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