BALTIMORE —

An illness that targets red blood cells is becoming increasingly common in Maryland.

Although Lyme disease is the most common tickborne illness, it's not the only one. Another disease called babesiosis involves parasites that first appear in rodents. Once a tick bites an infected animal, it's able to transmit the parasite to humans.

Dr. Nicole Baumgarth, a professor at the Lyme and Tickborne Diseases Research and Education Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told 11 News that infections can also occur in clinical settings.

"Unfortunately, this disease can be subclinical, and that means that people may donate blood, so we need to screen our blood supplies to ensure this parasite is really not in blood used for transfusions," Baumgarth told 1

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