There is a little-known disease spreading through the Mid-Atlantic from deer ticks. It is a parasite that attacks a person’s red blood cells. But early symptoms can be subtle.
WATCH: Tick-borne disease appearing in deer ticks across the Mid-Atlantic
Kristi Harper spoke with the lead author of new research into the spread of babesiosis and found out what people should be on the lookout for while they enjoy the outdoors.
Anne and her son Richard don’t let a little rain keep them from enjoying some time outdoors at Loch Raven Reservoir.
"A little bit of fishin' in the rain. Yeah."
And they are prepared in case there are ticks about.
Richard has dressed for ticks since he was a kid. "The top part you could do like sun shirts or something like that just to have a little something on your arms."
A practice he surely learned from Anne. "Most importantly, once you return back home, at least check each other to be sure that something is not on you that you are not aware of."
Anne has been bitten before. "I panicked. Because I could not get it off."
It turns out the tick had dug into her chest. She immediately went to a doctor to get treated. Anne was shocked it was able to get that high on her body so quickly. She only found it because of her practice of checking for ticks. "It didn't sting, it didn't pinch, it didn't hurt at all. It was only once I got home that I discovered this tick was on me."
That subtlety could have caused a devastating disease, according to a tick expert.
"The symptoms are very similar amongst all these diseases that we have." Ellen Stromdahl led the US Army’s lab for tick-borne diseases in Aberdeen.
She says, "Our tick populations are growing. Um, different species are on the move. So there are more ticks and more diseases to be worried about." The first documented case of babesiosis in Maryland was found on a woman in 2009. It is a parasite that attacks a person’s red blood cells.
The find led to a study now published in the Journal of Medical Entomology.
It shows that the disease had spread through ticks into Maryland as early as that first documented case.
"We've got great habitat for the ticks. Especially as temperatures warms somewhat. Um, we've moved our suburbs into the woods. Uh, our deer populations—this is a big one. Our deer population has exploded."
Ellen says this is particularly worrisome because it’s well known the deer tick frequently carries Lyme disease, which research suggests is closely associated with babesiosis. So a person infected with one stands a good chance of being infected with the other. She wants people to stay aware.
The CDC says it's best to avoid being bitten in the first place. But that means avoiding tall grasses and bushy areas. So when you come in from enjoying the outdoors, do a head, shoulders, knees, and toes check. Anywhere a tick might hide.
Weakness, fever, and fainting are all early symptoms. Ellen says those symptoms are pretty non-specific, so the chance of misdiagnosis is high, particularly in the elderly.
"The weakness that characterizes babesiosis might be written off to just being old."
So she says if you’ve recently been bitten by a deer tick and start to feel ill, make sure to ask your doctor to consider this disease.
