What is 'American malaria' and are you at risk?

FEW THINGS WILL LEAVE YOU FEELING QUITE SO ICKY AS returning from a jaunt outside and finding a tick clinging to your skin.

- JEFFREY KLUGER

Not only is the unwelcome parasite sucking the blood from your body, it may also be leaving something behind: bacteria, viruses, or smaller parasites that can cause at least 15 different diseases, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease, Powassan virus, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and Heartland virus are just a few of them.

Another, babesiosis, is causing particular concern. The disease is colloquially known as “American malaria,” partly because of its widening spread and partly because of its clinical profile. Like malaria, it can lead to headache, fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, altered mental state, anemia, low blood pressure, respiratory distress, and more.

The condition is on the rise. A paper recently published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases has found that more Americans are getting babesiosis— often alongside other tickrelated infections.