What life is like on a Maine island battered by tick-borne diseases | NYGazet

Islesboro has long grappled with some of the highest tick-borne disease rates in Maine, and is now seeing growing numbers of new illnesses.

Badoian, it turned out, had Islesboro’s first confirmed case of babesiosis, a tick-borne disease caused by a parasite that attacks red blood cells faster than they can be replaced. It made her so anemic that she almost needed a blood transfusion. Her... [6748 chars]