Newswatch 16’s Mackenzie Aucker spoke with the recovering patient and her doctor.
LOCK HAVEN, Pa. — June 23rd is a day that Kelly Brown will never forget. It’s when her daughter, Brittany, noticed it was becoming harder for her mother to do simple tasks around her Allison Township home. That’s when Brittany decided to take her mother to the hospital.
“They did all of the testing that we were asking for, but nobody thought of ticks, and it’s not something that they do as a standard,” said Kelly Brown, Allison Township.
Brown says she was sent home and followed up with her primary care doctor after she got her results back, noticing she was slowly losing blood. A week later, brown started feeling worse and went back to the ER, but was sent home a second time.
Two weeks later, brown’s daughter took her to Geisinger near Danville and spoke with the Hematology Department. The next day, doctors diagnosed her with babesiosis, a parasite found in ticks that finds a home in red blood cells.
“The red blood cells, or of course those cells which carry oxygen around in your body, and over time, if the infection is severe enough, then that can result in what we call anemia, where your blood counts get too low,” said Doctor Stanley Martin, Geisinger Director of Infectious Diseases.
Babesiosis comes from a tick bite when they’re in the nymph stage.
“They started treating me with antibiotics, and then also because it was a parasitic issue, they started treating me with basically malaria medication,” said Brown.
Brown remained hospitalized for a few days and needed a blood transfusion after her hemoglobin level dropped. After the transfusion, she says the medications started to kick in, and late last week, she was finally able to go home.
Brown says she’s unsure where she got the tick bite since she’s not an outdoorsy person.
Dr. Stanley Martin, the Director of Infectious Diseases at Geisinger, says there are ways to protect yourself against ticks, such as using repellent, wearing long sleeves or pants, and checking yourself for ticks when you get inside, “If you’re really concerned, take off your clothes, wash them right then and there to help get rid of any ticks or even take a shower yourself to make sure that you’re removing any that might be attached.”
Brown tells Newswatch 16 she’s not only thankful for the doctors and nurses at Geisinger but also for those who donate blood, “They helped me, they probably saved my life, actually, and I don’t know how many people donate blood, but it’s really, really important.”
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