Babesiosis in Lower Hudson Valley, New York, USA

• Published in: Emerging infectious diseases 2011-05, Vol.17 (5), p.843-847
• Main Authors: Joseph, Julie T, Roy, Sumith S, Shams, Navid, Visintainer, Paul, Nadelman, Robert B, Hosur, Srilatha, Nelson, John, Wormser, Gary P
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Analysis; Antibacterial agents; Babesiosis; Babesiosis - diagnosis; Babesiosis - epidemiology; Babesiosis - therapy; Disease transmission; Female; Haptoglobin; Health aspects; Hospitalization; Humans; Immunoglobulins; Incidence; Lower Hudson Valley; Lyme disease; Male; Middle Aged; New York; New York - epidemiology; parasites; tick-borne disease; transfusion
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059
• DOI: 10.3201/eid1705.101334

Although Lyme disease has been endemic to parts of the Lower Hudson Valley of New York, United States, for >2 decades, babesiosis has emerged there only since 2001. The number of Lower Hudson Valley residents in whom babesiosis was diagnosed increased 20-fold, from 6 to 119 cases per year during 2001-2008, compared with an ≈1.6-fold increase for the rest of New York. During 2002-2009, a total of 19 patients with babesiosis were hospitalized on 22 occasions at the regional tertiary care center. Concurrent conditions included advanced age, malignancies, splenectomy, and AIDS. Two patients acquired the infection from blood transfusions and 1 from perinatal exposure, rather than from a tick bite. One patient died. Clinicians should consider babesiosis in persons with fever and hemolytic anemia who have had tick exposure or have received blood products.