Babesiosis is a malaria-like parasitic disease caused by infection with Babesia, a genus of protozoal piroplasms. After trypanosomes, Babesia are thought to be the second most common blood parasites of mammals and they can have a major impact on health of domestic animals in areas without severe winters. Human babesiosis is uncommon, but reported cases have risen recently because of expanded medical awareness.

The disease is named for the genus of the causative organism, which was named after the Romanian bacteriologist Victor Babeş.Equine babesiosis is also known as piroplasmosis (from the Latin piro, meaning pear + German plasma, a thing formed).

Babesiosis is a vector-borne illness usually transmitted by Ixodes scapularis ticks. Babesia microti uses the same tick vector as Lyme disease and Ehrlichiosis, and may occur in conjunction with these other diseases. The organism can also be transmitted by blood transfusion.Ticks of domestic animals, especially Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus and Ripicephalus (B) decoloratus transmit several species of Babesia to livestock animals causing considerable economic losses to farmers in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

Richard Horowitz (born January 6, 1949 in New York City) is a composer, producer, arranger, and musician (keyboard, ney, and percussion).

He is best known for his work on The Sheltering Sky, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, which was awarded the 1990 Golden Globe and LA Film Critics Music Awards; Any Given Sunday, directed by Oliver Stone, which was awarded the 2000 BMI Music Award; and Majoun an album released on Sony Classical in 1997, with Sussan Deyhim. He performed his score for 1999 Three Seasons, (directed by Toni Bui produced by Harvey Keitel, Jacon Kliot and Joanna Vincente) live at the Sundance Film Festival's 25th Anniversary Benefit in New York in 2006.

Horowitz is known for creating a unique sonic language by fusing together his roots in classical, jazz and electronic music with the intensity of the trance music he first experienced in Morocco at the age of nineteen.