By Dr. Paul Donohue March 03, 2011 12:00 AM

Dear Dr. Donohue: last summer I took my children to visit their grandmother, who lives on the East Coast. We spent two months there. My son was 11 months old at the time. about the fourth week, he got sick, wouldn’t eat and had a temperature of 101. He did drink, so he didn’t become dehydrated. in two days, he was better.

When we returned home, I mentioned this to his pediatrician. He thought the baby might have contracted babesiosis. He didn’t say why or what this is. I’m not acquainted with it. what is it? are there any long-term effects? — M.M.

Reply: Babesiosis (buh-BEE-zee-OH-siss) isn’t a new disease, but it is a newly recognized illness. The first North American case was diagnosed in a Massachusetts man in 1969. since then, thousands of cases have been identified. It’s a bit like Lyme disease, since it is transmitted by ticks. and it’s somewhat like malaria, since the Babesia bacterium infects red blood cells. It is neither illness.

Many times, infected people have no symptoms. When symptoms appear, they include fever, sweats, headaches, joint and muscle pain and great fatigue.

The diagnosis is made by seeing the Babesia bacterium within red blood cells on microscopic examination of the blood.

If no symptoms are present, no treatment is needed. One treatment for symptomatic cases is the combination of quinine and clindamycin. Other treatments also are approved. Most recover quickly. Older people and those without a spleen can become quite sick.

I have no idea what made your child’s doctor hit on babesiosis as an explanation of your son’s temporary illness. Perhaps it was because you spent the summer in Massachusetts. or maybe the doctor happened to read about the illness before seeing your child. if it was babesiosis, your son will have no long-term effects.

Dear Dr. Donohue: Three months ago, I delivered a healthy, 8 pound 6 ounce baby boy. He’s the center of my husband’s and my life. I named him Paul. Not for you, but for my husband; it’s his name, too.

I am now losing handfuls of hair. Is this related to the pregnancy? — L.L.

Reply: It probably is. your hair loss is called a telogen effluvium. It happens two to six months after delivering a baby. It also happens after surgery or any illness where there was a high fever.

Telogen hair is resting hair. It’s the hair that is destined to fall out soon. “Effluvium” is a Latin word whose meaning is “flow.” With a telogen effluvium, all resting hairs fall out in a short time period. Normal hair loss is a gradual process that brings no attention to itself. this hair loss will stop shortly, and you will regrow all your lost hair. It’s just an accentuation of a normal process.

Dear Dr. Donohue: I had a bad reaction to cholesterol medicine. I had to spend a week hospitalized.

Everything is fine now, but my cholesterol is very high. My doctor wants me to take another cholesterol medicine called Welchol. Am I going to have a repeat experience? — J.T.

Reply: You probably were taking one of the statin drugs. Welchol isn’t related to those drugs. It works by ushering bile out of the body. Bile, the liver substance that helps digest fats, has lots of cholesterol. That’s how body cholesterol is lowered.

It’s most unlikely that you will have a repeat reaction to this drug.

Write Dr. Donohue at P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL 32853-6475.

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