Most Active Stories Shots - Health News Mon November 12, 2012
Malaria-Like Disease Follows Lyme's Path In New England
Originally published on Tue November 13, 2012 1:07 pm There's
more than deer lurking in the New England woods these days.
Diseases carried by ticks that hitch rides on deer are rising in
the Northeast, researchers said Monday at a meeting about
tropical diseases. In particular, babesiosis — a disease that
mimics malaria — is catching up with Lyme disease in some
communities. "Lyme disease is the big boy on the block," Dr.
Peter Krause, an infectious disease specialist at the Yale
School of Public Health, tells Shots. "But now babesiosis is
spreading in a similar pattern." Babesoisis is still far rarer
than Lyme, which sends nearly 10,000 New Englanders to their
doctors each year. However, Krause's colleague Maria Duik-
Wassers predicts the gap is going to narrow, as the babesia
parasite spreads and doctors learn to diagnose it. Diuk-Wasser
has been tracking babesiosis in Connecticut for over a