This Year’s Ticks Carry Double Whammy

Lyme disease was bad enough, but now, according to disease ecologists at Columbia University, deer ticks have expanded their parasitic payload to include a malaria-like parasite called Babesia microti, which causes babesiosis when transmitted to humans. What’s babesiosis? It’s a lot like Lyme disease, with a flu-like illness, but it can also cause certain types of anemia, and can be fatal in people with suppressed immune systems. And Lyme disease, if left untreated, may lead to problems in the brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, heart and circulation, digestion, reproductive system and skin. It’s all unpleasant. About 1,000 new cases of babesiosis are reported each year, while Lyme disease infects about 30,000 people annually, and the numbers are growing. Why? A Columbia news release reports that the researchers aren’t sure, but they suspect that climate change may be playing a role in the spread of Lyme and babesiosis in the northern U.S. and into Canada, because warmer temperatures speed up ticks’ development, which can result in larger tick populations.