CDC: Lyme Disease Spread 320 Percent in 19 Years

The findings indicated that Lyme disease diagnoses are steadily increasing.

Kiersten Kugeler, lead author of the study, said via Business Insider: “The risk [of Lyme disease] is expanding, in all directions”.

Lyme disease has been spreading in drastically, according to a study released by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention agency this Wednesday.

Ticks that attach to humans are the size of a pinhead – much smaller than those you see on a pet. They are spider-like creatures with eight legs, and can carry the bacteria that causes Lyme disease. As said by them, the disease has attacked a few states for the first time. The team acknowledged several factors that could have influenced the data such as surveillance practices and resources; however, the method still provides a valuable way to pinpoint high risk counties for Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the Northern hemisphere. In 1975, the disease was reported in the state of Connecticut for the first time. Now, high-risk zones encompass nearly all of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and more than half of Maine and Vermont.

Everyone should know what Lyme disease is or at the very least have an idea of the bugs that might spread it to you.

As the climate warms, ticks can survive in more environments, like the ones studied in those frigid north-central states.

Other states that saw expansion of high-risk areas include Virginia, Pennsylvania and New York along the Eastern seaboard, and Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota in the Midwest. Transmitted to humans by ticks, the disease typically causes a red rash known as erthema migrans to occur on the body, an occurrence that is normally not itchy or painful.

Meanwhile, exactly 60 percent of people diagnosed with the disease develop symptoms of arthritis several weeks after infection, if not treated with antibiotics.

Symptoms include a fever, headache and fatigue.

About 20,000 to 30,000 cases are reported in the US every year, but experts say that the actual number could be 10 times greater. However, scientists think that it is probably related to development that removes natural predators of the disease-carrying ticks.