United States: After Lyme disease, infectious disease experts are now warning of another serious tick-borne illness that’s on the rise: babesiosis.
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According to Paddy Ssentongo, the lead study author and an infectious disease fellow at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, “If you live in areas where babesiosis is endemic, mostly states in the Northeast and the Midwest, take precautions, especially during the summer months,” the New York Post reported.
About the study
Ssentongo’s team concluded that the incidences of babesiosis, a sometimes fatal disease also known as “American malaria,” were rising by an average of nine percent each year between 2015 and 2022 in the US.
Moreover, it was discovered that about four out of every ten patients were co-infected with Lyme disease or some other tick borne disease.
Ssentongo attributes the increase in babesiosis to changes in the length of the seasons, temperature, humidity, and rainfall that affect the ticks.
About Babesiosis
Babesiosis occured from the infection by the Babesia protozoan parasite.
The disease takes place via spread by the black-legged tick, more commonly referred to as the deer tick.
The disease is caused by a parasite that invades the RBCs. Transmission may also be through the movement of blood through exchange, either from transfusion or transplantation or from the mother to her child, the New York Post reported.
Findings of the study
The research team from Penn State studying the disease found 3,521 people with babesiosis from October 2015 to December 2022.
Most of the cases were reported during summer in the Northeastern states.
Of the babesiosis patients, 42 percent had at least one co-existing tick-borne Disease – an increased rate compared to previous studies.
Among those patients, 41 percent were co-infected with bacteria that cause Lyme disease, while 3.7 percent tested positive for ehrlichiosis and 0.3 percent for anaplasmosis.
Babesiosis death incidences are very low – the USA recorded a 0.57 percent death rate in 2019.