Tick-borne anaplasmosis surging in {not just} Maine and its worse than Lyme (Portland Press-Herald)

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The illness produces more severe symptoms than Lyme disease and is more difficult to detect; reported cases surged from 52 five years ago to 433 so far this year.

By Joe LawlorStaff Writer

Reported cases of a tick-borne disease are swelling in Maine this year, but it’s not Lyme disease.

Cases of anaplasmosis, an illness with flu-like symptoms that are similar to Lyme but typically more severe, have jumped from 52 a year in Maine five years ago to 433 this year, through Oct. 24, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Of this year’s 433 cases, 113 were hospitalized, according to Maine CDC statistics.

The deer tick, the same tick that’s a carrier for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, is also a carrier for anaplasmosis.

Lyme – of which there have been more than 1,000 cases per year in Maine since 2011 – has established a long-term presence inMaine the state, but anaplasmosis has remained under the radar.
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Anaplasmosis cases are also rising in other New England states: Massachusetts had 828 cases in 2016 compared to about 200 in 2012, while New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island are also reporting increases. Lyme cases remain strong in Maine, but the 1,039 cases through September of this year are below five-year averages. Another tick-borne disease, babesiosis, is also increasing, but still at much lower rates than Lyme or anaplasmosis, with 93 cases through September.
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more: https://www.pressherald.com/2017/11/13/anaplasmosis-cases-surging-in-maine/