Rise in Tick-Borne Disease That Kills Up to 1 in 5 Vulnerable People

Rise in Tick-Borne Disease That Kills Up to 1 in 5 Vulnerable People
A tick at the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) in Maison-Alfort, on July 20, 2016. (Bertrand Guay/AFP/Getty Images)
Naveen Athrappully
4/14/2023
Updated:
4/14/2023
0:00

There has been a considerable increase in the potentially deadly tick-borne disease babesiosis in the United States, according to new research.

Incidences of babesiosis “significantly increased” in the northeastern United States between 2011 and 2019, according to a March 17 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Among tick-borne pathogens, babesia is considered to be a serious threat to human beings. It can infect and destroy red blood cells, a condition called babesiosis. Around 0.5 percent of infected individuals are estimated to die from the disease.

Among immunocompromised individuals and the elderly, the mortality rate can go up to one in five.

In Vermont, case numbers jumped from 2 to 34 between 2011 and 2019, the report said. In Maine, this rose from 9 to 138. And in New Hampshire, cases jumped from 13 to 63.

“During 2011–2019, a total of 16,456 cases of babesiosis were reported to CDC by 37 states, including 16,174 (98.2 percent) reported from the 10 states included in this analysis,” the report said.

“New York reported the largest number of cases (4,738 total; average = 526.4 per year), followed by Massachusetts (4,136; 459.6), and Connecticut (2,200; 244.4). The lowest numbers of cases were reported in Vermont (114; 12.7) and New Hampshire (340; 37.8).”

According to a 2017 report from the CDC, roughly 2,500 Americans were diagnosed with the infection that year, up from about 1,000 in 2011. The disease is usually treated with anti-parasite and antibiotic drugs.

Babesiosis can be a “severe, life-threatening disease,” particularly among people who do not have a spleen, have a weak immune system, have other serious health conditions like kidney or liver disease, or are elderly, the CDC said.

Complications arising from babesiosis can include low, unstable blood pressure, very low platelet count, malfunction of critical organs, and disseminated intravascular coagulation that leads to blood clots and bleeding.

The Infection

According to an April 13 news release from the University of California Riverside, “all cases of human babesiosis reported in the United States have been linked to either Babesia microti, B. duncani, or a B. divergens-like species.”

“In older and immunocompromised people, if B. duncani is left unattended, babesiosis could worsen and lead to death. Once the pathogen enters the body and red blood cells start to get destroyed, fever, headache, and nausea can follow.”

“People who get bitten by the ticks often don’t feel the bite, which complicates diagnosis. Skin manifestations of babesiosis are rare … and difficult to separate from Lyme disease.”

In the United States, babesiosis caused by B. duncani is an “emerging infectious disease” that is often undetected since healthy individuals with the disease do not usually show any symptoms.

Despite its highly virulent properties, very little is known about the biology, mechanism of virulence, and evolution of B. duncani. Existing recommended treatments for babesiosis against B. duncani are also “largely ineffective,” the release states. Diagnostics are usually developed for B. microti.

Recent research led by scientists from the University of California, Riverside and Yale University, now offers more information on B. duncani as they have reported the “first high-quality nuclear genome sequence and assembly of the pathogen.”

Therapies

Karine Le Roch, a professor of molecular, cell, and systems biology at UC Riverside, who co-led the study, pointed out that the parasite has evolved into new classes of multigene families, allowing it to avoid the immune response of the host.

According to Le Roch, the study not only identifies the molecular mechanism that will most likely lead to the parasite’s virulence and pathology but also opens up opportunities for the development of more effective therapies.

“By mining the genome and developing in vitro drug efficacy studies, we identified excellent inhibitors of the development of this parasite—a pipeline of small molecules, such as pyrimethamine, that could be developed as effective therapies for treating and better managing human babesiosis,” Le Roch said.

“Far more scientific and medical attention has been paid to B. microti. The genome structure of B. duncani, a neglected species until now, will provide scientists with important insights into the biology, evolution, and drug susceptibility of the pathogen.”

Naveen Athrappully is a news reporter covering business and world events at The Epoch Times.
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