Ticks that transmit Borrelia burgdorferi to humans can also carry and transmit several other parasites, such as Theileria microti and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, which cause the diseases babesiosis and human granulocytic anaplasmosis, respectively.
Benach and pathology colleague Marc Golightly developed the critical laboratory test to detect the presence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, an ELISA test that became the original “gold standard” for Lyme diagnosis.