phyl6648
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 28522
posted
Saw this on ABC News last night. Left a lot to be said but at least Lyme is being recognized.
It is tick season in many parts of the country right now, and the blood-sucking parasite is not just a nuisance, it can also pass along potentially fatal diseases like Lyme disease and lesser know babesiosis.
The exact same tiny black-legged deer tick that can transmit Lyme disease is also responsible for a rare, but fast growing and perhaps more dangerous disease called babesiosis. Babesiosis, which infects and destroys red blood cells, can be fatal 10 percent to 20 percent of the time in people with already weakened immune systems.
"People who lack a spleen, people who have cancer, people who have HIV, people who are immunosuppressed, on immunosuppressive drugs [are most vulnerable]," said Dr. Peter Krause, of Hartford, Conn.
The disease has been seen most commonly in parts of the Northeast and upper Midwest and usually peaks during the warm months from April to September, when ticks are most prevalent.
Like Lyme disease, the tick has to have dug into the skin and fed for hours before it can transmit babesiosis. Unlike Lyme disease, babesiosis is easy to miss since it does not leave a tell-tale skin rash like most forms of Lyme disease.
If caught early, babesiosis is easily treated. Symptoms for the otherwise healthy are limited to chills and head and body aches. But if it is ignored or unnoticed by those with immune problems, the disease can be fatal.
Posts: 1058 | From VA | Registered: Oct 2010
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