Babesia: impact of cold storage on the survival and the viability of parasites in blood bags.

CONCLUSION:
Refrigeration of B.divergens leads to an alteration of parasite morphology and a decrease in parasite numbers. However, there are sufficient parasites that are robust enough to survive 31 days of storage at 4°C and yield high end-point parasitemia.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23888882