Washington Post Babesiosis is on the rise and is spread by the same ticks that cause Lyme. It can be serious, especially for people who are immunocompromised. If you spot a blacklegged tick crawling up your leg — or worse, attached to your skin — you might be worried about getting Lyme disease. That’s reasonable because Lyme is the most commonly reported illness spread by ticks. But it is far from the only one: The blacklegged ticks that carry Lyme can spread at least six different illnesses.
The tick-borne illness babesiosis is one of the next most common after Lyme. And it is on the rise, especially in the Northeast, according to a 2023 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“Babesiosis is less common than Lyme disease but tracks in the same areas,” said Paul Auwaerter, a professor of medicine and clinical director of the division of infectious diseases at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. And it’s worth knowing about because it can be serious, especially for people who are immunocompromised, he said.