CDC report: Tick-borne illness babesiosis on rise in Northeast
Mar. 27—As a rare tick-borne disease is on the rise in the northeastern United States, a local professor is awaiting test results to see whether babesiosis is taking hold in the Keystone State.
Pennsylvania is among the worst states in the nation for Lyme cases, and concern about its prevalence has increased public campaigns to raise awareness about tick bite prevention.
Babesiosis — which also can be transmitted through a tick bite — isn't mentioned nearly as often. But the disease appears to be showing up more, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tracking trends in the U.S. from 2011-19, CDC scientists saw instances of babesiosis increase "significantly" in Northeastern states.
"Three states (Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont) that were not considered to have endemic babesiosis had significantly increasing incidences and reported case counts similar to or higher than those in the seven states with known endemic transmission," the report reads.
Babesiosis is a parasitic disease that infects red blood cells. It is carried largely by the same white-footed mice that are also the primary vectors for Lyme, passing it on to ticks, which can then infect humans.
"It's caused by a protozoan parasite," said University of Pittsburgh assistant professor Danielle Tufts. "It's a malarialike pathogen, and it lives in red blood cells. It sort of commandeers those cells, which can be very detrimental, especially for a person who's immunocompromised or who's missing a spleen."
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From 2011-19, about 16,500 cases of babesiosis were reported to the CDC by 37 states, including about 16,200 (98%) reported from the 10 states included in this analysis. New York reported the most cases (4,738 total), followed by Massachusetts (4,136) and Connecticut (2,200 ).
The study included New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Tufts is awaiting test results from a field study of ticks in the region to see whether babesiosis is on the rise here. Those results are expected this month.
A 2020 study published in the "Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases" journal took data from nearly 700 mammals collected in Central Pennsylvania. It showed a higher rate (32%) of the babesia bacterium than the B. burgdorferi spirochete (21%), which causes Lyme disease.
The study's authors characterize babesiosis as an "emerging pathogen" in Pennsylvania and one that warrants additional study.
Many people who contract babesiosis feel fine and do not have any symptoms, according to the CDC. Some people develop flu-like symptoms such as fever, chills, sweats, headache, body aches, loss of appetite, nausea or fatigue. Because babesia parasites infect red blood cells, babesiosis can cause hemolytic anemia.
Tufts said more attention needs to be paid to testing for babesiosis when people seek treatment for a tick bite.
"Most people do recover from (babesiosis), and some are asymptomatic," she said. "But one of the main issues is that we hear a lot about Lyme. You go to the doctor for a tick bite, and they test for Lyme and not really anything else unless you ask about it. Lyme and babesiosis have very similar reactions — fever, fatigue — and you need different medications to treat them."
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick by email at pvarine@triblive.com or via Twitter .
