[1] The parasite starts infecting red blood cells, where it digests hemoglobin for amino acids.

These are then ingested by the arthropod host and B. microti gametes undergo a sporogonic cycle (sexual reproduction), where new sporozoites are made.

[4] An important difference from malaria is that B. microti does not infect liver cells or require haem iron for their metabolical processes.

[7][8] As of 2012[update], the medical community still classified the parasite as B. microti[9] though its genome showed it does not belong to either Babesia or Theileria.

[10] In May 2010, a vaccine to protect cattle against East Coast fever reportedly had been approved and registered by the governments of Kenya, Malawi, and Tanzania.