Dramatic Increase in High Risk Areas Affected With Lyme Disease in the U.S

Lyme disease is transmitted through the bites of infected deer ticks, which can be about the size of a poppy seed and is common in suburban counties.

Lyme disease has become a bigger danger in the Northeast and upper Midwest regions in U.S.

"The risk is expanding, in all directions," said the lead author, Kiersten Kugeler of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Lyme Disease - Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment, Prevention
Lyme disease is acquired through the bite of a tick that is infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi.

There are now 260 counties where the number of Lyme disease cases is at least twice what's expected, given the size of each county's population.

Lyme disease is most common in wooded suburban and far suburban counties. Scientists aren't sure why high-risk areas are expanding, but it likely has something to do with development and other changes that cause the deer and ticks that carry the bacteria to move, said Kugeler.

Symptoms include a fever, headache and fatigue and sometimes a telltale rash that looks like a bull's-eye on the tick bite. Most people recover with antibiotics. If left untreated, the infection can cause arthritis and more severe problems.

Researchers Use Disease-Free Live Ticks to Detect Presence of Lyme Disease
A new technique, known as xenodiagnosis is currently being used by researchers to check whether Lyme disease bacteria can be detected.

Overall, 17 states have high-risk counties. The entire state of Connecticut, where the illness was first identified in 1975, has been high-risk for decades. Now, high-risk zones encompass nearly all of Massachusetts and New Hampshire and more than half of Maine and Vermont.

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.

Lyme Disease Risk is Year-Round in Northwest California: Study
Bay Area Lyme Foundation aims to make Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, applauds new research.

Some counties have dropped off the high-risk list, including those in Virginia, Georgia, Missouri and North Carolina where significant clusters were reported in the 1990s. Scientists now think those were a different condition caused by a different tick's bite, said Kugeler.

About 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. cases are reported each year, but experts say there actually are as many as 10 times more.

Increase in Lyme Disease Mirrors Drop in Red Fox Numbers: UC Santa Cruz Researchers
A new study by UC Santa Cruz researchers suggests that a continued increase of Lyme disease in the United States.

Source-Medindia