As summer approaches, people in the Northeast and Midwest look forward to spending more time outdoors-which also means plotting ways to avoid the disease carrying black-legged deer tick. However, those living outside of these areas also may want to take precautions. Black-legged ticks are growing in number rapidly, expanding geographically, and carrying pathogens that can lead to ailments like Lyme disease and babesiosis into places where they were relatively unknown. Disease ecologist Maria Was-ser of Columbia University, New York, is tracking the spread and emergence of tick-borne pathogens, including a malaria-like parasite called Babesia microti, which causes babesiosis-a malaria-like malady-when transmitted to humans. An increasing number of ticks are infected with Babesia and Wasser's team is exploring evidence that the trend is connected to the rapid spread of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
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