GETTYSBURG, Pa. \u2014 Pennsylvania reported more than 16,000 Lyme disease cases in 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Babesiosis, a parasitic infection carried by the same tick, is not a reportable disease in the state, so no comparable count exists.<\/p>\n
A House Republican Policy Committee hearing Wednesday in Adams County took up that difference. Lawmakers heard from tick researchers and from patients who said doctors failed to recognize their illness.<\/p>\n
Babesiosis is caused by microscopic parasites that infect red blood cells. Many people who catch it have no symptoms, but others develop fever, chills, and fatigue, and the infection can be severe in people over 50, those without a spleen, and those with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC.<\/p>\n
It is treated with a combination of two prescription drugs, not the doxycycline used against Lyme disease. A 2020 study by Penn State Health researchers<\/a>, published in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, found cases rising in Pennsylvania even without mandatory reporting.<\/p>\n Rep. Catherine Wallen, R-Adams, who hosted the hearing for committee Chairman David Rowe, R-Snyder, is the prime sponsor of House Bill 2710. It would make babesiosis reportable and require health care practitioners to complete one hour of continuing education on tick-borne illnesses to maintain their licenses.<\/p>\n Stay informed on Lehigh Valley health & wellness<\/p>\n Get the latest health & wellness news and updates from across the Valley.<\/p>\n By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy<\/a> and consent to receive updates.<\/p>\n It was referred to the House Health Committee in July. The policy committee does not vote on legislation.<\/p>\n The Department of Health has proposed adding tick-borne illnesses to its communicable disease reporting rules, but the final regulations are not due until 2028 and may not include babesiosis, Wallen wrote in a co-sponsorship memo. No department representative testified.<\/p>\n Wallen, who has chronic Lyme disease, said doctors have dismissed her symptoms.<\/p>\n \u201cWe all look fine from the outside,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019ve heard more than one doctor say, \u2018But you look fine.’\u201d<\/p>\n Reported Lyme cases rose from 2,315 in 2000 to 16,624 in 2024, with 18,748 preliminary cases in 2025, said Kaitlyn Good of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania. Good said part of that increase reflects a 2022 change in the national case definition<\/a> that allowed high-incidence states to report lab-confirmed cases without clinical details.<\/p>\n Stay informed on Lehigh Valley health & wellness<\/p>\n Get the latest health & wellness news and updates from across the Valley.<\/p>\n By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy<\/a> and consent to receive updates.<\/p>\n The center\u2019s July report put the rural rate at 193 cases per 100,000 residents in 2024, compared with 105 in urban areas.<\/p>\n Erika Machtinger, a Penn State entomologist who leads Penn State Extension\u2019s vector-borne disease team, told the committee the state has already spent nearly $2 million on Lyme awareness campaigns without a corresponding drop in disease burden.<\/p>\n \u201cAwareness matters, but awareness alone is not enough,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Asked whether other states had cut tick populations, Machtinger said she knew of no state-led effort that had worked broadly, and that better results have come from coordinated work at the community level.<\/p>\n Nicole Chinnici, who directs the Tick Research Lab of Pennsylvania at East Stroudsburg University, said 42 percent of tick bites reported to her lab happened in the person\u2019s own backyard, and that children under 10 are the most commonly bitten group.<\/p>\n