Tick-borne anaplasmosis is gaining ground in New York

Emerging tick-borne disease becomes a significant public health threat in New York State, researchers warn in a new study this month. The study found that human cases of anaplasmosis have increased dramatically in the state over the past decade, and ticks are found more frequently carrying the bacteria that are responsible for it.

Anaplasmosis is caused by the bacteria Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which must invade white blood cells to survive. It is spread by the same two species of ticks known to carriers of Lyme disease in the United States, the blacklegged tick or deer (Scapular ixodes) in the east and the blacklegged tick in the west (Pacific ixodes) on the Pacific coast. The first symptoms, which usually appear a week or two after a bite, include fever, headache, and vomiting. But it can also progress to more serious symptoms such as bleeding, organ failure, and ultimately death. These severe cases are more common in people whose symptoms are already weakened or when the initial infection is not treated quickly with antibiotics.

“Unlike Lyme disease, another tick-borne infection with similar early symptoms that can become debilitating but rarely cause death, anaplasmosis can kill if left untreated,” study author Melissa Prusinski, a researcher in the New York State Department of Health’s Office of Communicable Disease Control, told Gizmodo in an email.

The disease was first recognized in the 1990s, but it was not monitored nationally by health agencies until 1999. Although cases of anaplasmosis remain low compared to Lyme disease , the most frequently reported tick-borne disease, its incidence is regularly increased overtime. In 2018, around 4,000 cases were reported nationwide, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from 348 cases in 2000 (that said, 2018 was a year down from the highest Peak in 2017, which recorded 5,762 cases).

This new study, published in the journal CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases, indicates that parts of New York City have become a major hotspot for anaplasmosis activity.

Prusinski and his colleagues reviewed surveillance data collected by the state between 2010 and 2018. These data did not only include reported cases in people but also information from expeditions in the territory of ticks to collect and study live samples.

A total of 5,146 anaplasmosis cases were reported in New York State (excluding New York City) during these years, with a similar declining year in 2018 across national. But the general surge has been concentrated around the Albany region, with cases there having increased eightfold. The incidence of deer ticks carrying the bacteria has also increased, from 2.4% of ticks estimated to have them in 2010 to 4.5% of ticks in 2018. Since 2015, anaplasmosis has become the second transmitted disease. by ticks in New York, after Lyme.

“Our work has shown that anaplasmosis has increased dramatically in parts of New York state in recent years, in part due to an increase in infected ticks in those areas,” Prusinski said. “The size of the area most affected by anaplasmosis has changed and expanded over time, putting more New York State residents at risk.”

Like other diseases spread by ticks and insects, there are several factors behind the rise of anaplasmosis in New York and elsewhere. An important The actor is climate change, with warmer temperatures over longer periods of time allowing tick populations to become denser and survive longer into the year. But there are probably other pieces of the puzzle missing as to why cases of anaplasmosis in particular have increased rapidly in and around Albany, compared to the more gradual increase seen with Lyme and other diseases transmitted by them. ticks like babesiosis. One theory, says Prusinski, is that the bacteria responsible for human anaplasmosis (another variant, found in deer, does not appear to cause disease in humans) is increasingly common in ticks and the small mammals they feed on, but research is ongoing to understand why.

Although 2018 may have been a slight decrease in anaplasmosis, and the pandemic may have affected reports last year, Prusinski expects anaplasmosis to continue to be a growing threat to New Yorkers, a threat people will need to protect themselves against.

“There is no vaccine to prevent anaplasmosis, but there are several simple steps people can take to prevent tick-borne illnesses by avoiding tick bites, ”she said.

Simple tick prevention tips when hiking or practicing ticking activitiesinfested areas such as forests include wearing light-colored clothing with a tight weave to easily spot ticks; use insect repellant or treat clothing with compounds that kill ticks; and check your clothing and skin frequently when you are outside and after entering indoors. Other tips can be seen here on the website of the Ministry of Health.