Green tea extract (EGCG) effective agasint Babesea

I thought I'd post this here, for the record.

Parasitology. 2010 Apr;137(5):785-91. Epub 2009 Dec 22.
Inhibitory effects of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate from green tea on the growth of Babesia parasites.
Aboulaila M, Yokoyama N, Igarashi I.
National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Inada-Cho, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
Abstract
(-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the major tea catechin and accounts for 50-80% of the total catechin in green tea. (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, anti-cancer, and anti-trypanocidal activities. This report describes the inhibitory effect of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate on the in vitro growth of bovine Babesia parasites and the in vivo growth of the mouse-adapted rodent babesia B. microti. The in vitro growth of the Babesia species was significantly (P<0.05) inhibited in the presence of micromolar concentrations of EGCG (IC50 values=18 and 25 microM for B. bovis, and B. bigemina, respectively). The parasites showed no re-growth at 25 microM for B. bovis and B. bigemina in the subsequent viability test. The drug significantly (P<0.05) inhibited the growth of B. microti at doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg body weight, and the parasites completely cleared on day 14 and 16 post-inoculation in the 5 and 10 mg/kg treated groups, respectively. These findings highlight the potentiality of (-)-Epigallocatechin-3-gallate as a chemotherapeutic drug for the treatment of babesiosis.
PMID: 20025823 [PubMed - in process]