Wednesday, April 08, 2009

MARYLAND/DC/VIRGINIA NEWS: Lyme Disease On Rise

A story in today's Washington Post highlights a rather alarming rise in confirmed Lyme Disease cases. Between 2005 and 2007:

The number of cases in Washington DC rose from 10 to 116.

The number of cases in Virginia rose from 274 to 959.

The number of cases in Maryland rose from 1235 to 2576.

"The adult ticks prefer to feed on deer, which are immune to the disease," Mead said. "Deer are the adult mating bars for black-legged ticks. That's where they like to meet their mates, and then they drop off to lay their eggs."

The spread of infected ticks in the Washington region has been dramatic as more farmland has been developed and deer have become ever more common roaming through back yards and parks.


Source: Washington Post

2 comments:

monalisa said...

People don't realize the prevalence of lyme disease even with all the publicity. They still need to be eduacted on what to look for. I contracted it years ago and it was a long time before I got checked out. by the time I did, I had begun suffering from joint pain, anxiety and depression, insomnia, heart palpitations, etc... and lyme disease was the farthest thing from my mind.

Tom Rooney said...

Monalisa,

Sorry to hear that you contracted Lyme. As with so many other emerging diseases (West Nile, methicillin-resistant Staph, H5N1 and now H1N1 influenza, etc.) it is becoming increasingly more difficult to get an accurate diagnosis for clusters of symptoms that do not "fit" conventional causes.