Beyond Human Babesiosis: Prevalence and Association of <i>Babesia</i> Coinfection with Mortality in the United States, 2015–2022: A Retrospective Cohort Study

In this extensive study of >3000 patients with babesiosis in the United States, 4 in 10 patients had coinfecting tick-borne zoonoses. The prevalence rates of coinfection were highest with <i>Borrelia burgdorferi,</i> followed by ehrlichiosis, and lowest with anaplasmosis. Coinfection with other tick-borne infections was not associated with severe disease. It is plausible that this finding is due to the likelihood of treatment of coinfections with doxycycline. Future studies are needed to investigate the possible therapeutic benefits of doxycycline in babesiosis patients as, to date, no trials with doxycycline have been conducted in human patients with <i>Babesia</i> infections.