Once-rare infection transmission through tick bites is increasing in the US… and has already reached the UK, experts warn

The incidence of a potentially fatal tick-borne parasitic disease that can cause paralysis is increasing.

Babesiosis, sometimes called “American malaria,” increased by an average of 9 percent each year in the U.S. between 2015 and 2022, researchers said.

In addition, two out of five of these patients were found to be simultaneously infected with Lyme disease or another tick-borne disease.

While the tick-borne disease is primarily found in the northeastern and midwestern United States, it also reached the United Kingdom four years ago

Babesiosis is caused by a parasite called Babesia microti, which is found in the saliva of ticks and from there begins to infect a person’s red blood cells and destroy them.

The disease is caused by a single-celled organism that attacks red blood cells when a person is infected

While a healthy adult can usually fight off the infection, it can be fatal in older adults and particularly vulnerable people with health problems or treatments that weaken their immune systems.

Like malaria, the parasite infects red blood cells and causes anemia, and the disease has many similar clinical symptoms.

While about two-thirds of people with the infection have no symptoms, those who do develop it in two phases.

Initially, those infected experience flu-like illnesses such as fever, headaches and fatigue.

A more serious second phase then occurs in which the body’s central nervous system is disrupted, leading to spinal cord and brain problems such as meningitis, encephalitis and paralysis.

While most cases are caused by tick bites, rarer ways of contracting babesiosis include a blood transfusion containing the parasite or a mother with the infection passing the infection on to her baby during pregnancy.

Changes in temperature, humidity, precipitation, and length of season could affect the population and distribution of ticks in the United States and throughout Europe, as well as the population of animals that serve as reservoir hosts, such as: B. deer.

This allows ticks to occur over a larger geographical area.

It is important to remove a tick from your own skin to avoid the risk of infection or contracting other diseases, including Lyme disease. The NHS has a four-step program to help safely detect and remove ticks

Although rare in the UK, cases of babesiosis have been reported and the charity Lyme Disease Action says it is another illness that both medical professionals and the public should be aware of.

Health authorities confirmed a case of the tick-borne illness in Devon on July 31, 2020 in the United Kingdom.

Lyme disease – another tick-borne disease that causes a circular rash around the bite, as well as fever, headaches and fatigue – affects thousands of Brits every year.

The bacterium was detected in more than 1,000 people across the country in 2022.

But in addition to these laboratory-confirmed cases, there are an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 additional cases of the bacterial infection each year.

As a result, it affects 3,000 to 4,000 people in England and Wales every year, according to the charity Lyme Disease UK.

Provisional ONS data for 2021 shows there were 1,156 laboratory-confirmed cases of Lyme disease in England and Wales

The study, published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases, examined the prevalence of the disease and the impact of patients infected with multiple tick-borne diseases.

Using TriNetX, a large national database containing clinical patient data from over 250 million people, they identified 3,521 people infected with babesiosis between October 2015 and December 2022.

The researchers found that the incidence of babesiosis increased by an average of 9 percent per year.

Most cases peaked in the summer months and were reported in northeastern states. Of those diagnosed with babesiosis, 42 percent were infected with one or more other tick-borne diseases, a higher rate than found in previous studies.

The largest percentage of these patients, 41 percent, were co-infected with the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease.

The map above shows states in the United States that have reported cases of babesiosis and the disease prevalence. It is endemic to the Northeast, Midwest, and West states and has also been recorded in the South

This graphic provided by the CDC shows how many cases of babesiosis have been recorded in the United States each year. In 2011 there were just over 1,000 cases, now there are 2,500

When researchers examined whether infection with two tick-borne diseases resulted in worse outcomes, they found that there were no significant differences between the group that had babesiosis alone and the group with co-infections.

However, when they examined the risk of mortality, they found that the risk of death was higher in the group that only had babesiosis.

“Both babesiosis and Lyme disease do not appear to be associated with higher mortality,” said Paddy Ssentongo, an infectious disease fellow at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and lead author of the study.

He added that the finding was surprising. He said: “It is speculated that the simultaneous presence of other tick-borne infections in the blood could alter the immune response, perhaps ‘boosting’ it to effectively fight infections.”

However, this difference in results may be due to how the tick-borne diseases are treated.

In their study, the team found that the co-infection group was more likely to be prescribed doxycycline, the first-line antibiotic used to treat Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and Ehrlichiosis, compared to the group that received babesiosis alone.

What the researchers suspected might indicate that the drug doxycycline is also effective in treating the Babesia parasite.

Currently, treatment for babesiosis depends on the severity of the disease.

Treatment typically includes a combination of the antibiotics azithromycin and atovaquone.

Even seriously ill patients, such as those with severe organ disorders, may consider red blood cell replacement, in which abnormal red blood cells are removed and replaced with healthy ones.

“For patients with babesiosis, we add doxycycline while evaluating whether the patient has Lyme disease or other tick-borne diseases, and we have seen better results with this approach at our medical center,” said Dr. Ssentongo.

He said there were other case reports where babesiosis had been successfully treated with doxycycline. However, further research is needed to understand the physiological pathways underlying coinfection and how these might impact treatment protocols.

According to Dr. However, the most effective treatment approach is to prevent tick-borne diseases in the first place.

To avoid tick-borne illnesses, wear long-sleeved shirts, pants, and light-colored clothing. It is also recommended to use tick repellent and check for ticks after spending time outdoors.