Concurrent Lyme disease and babesiosis: Evidence for increased severity and duration of illness

Abstract

Objective. - To determine whether patients coinfected with Lyme disease and babesiosis in sites where both diseases are zoonotic experience a greater number of symptoms for a longer period of time than those with either infection alone. Design. - Community-based, yearly serosurvey and clinic- based cohort study. Setting. - Island community in Rhode Island and 2 Connecticut medical clinics from 1990 to 1994. Study Participants. - Long- term residents of the island community and patients seeking treatment at the clinics. Main Outcome Measures. - Seroreactivity to the agents of Lyme disease and babesiosis and number and duration of symptoms, Results. - Of 1156 serosurvey subjects, 97 (8.4%) were seroreactive against Lyme disease spirochete antigen, of whom 14 (14%) also were seroreactive against babesial antigen. Of 240 patients diagnosed with Lyme disease, 26 (11%) were coinfected with babesiosis. Coinfected patients experienced fatigue (P=.002), headache (P