Lyme Disease Is Growing, Spreading To New Areas: CDC Study

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff) & WENDY ANN MITCHELL (Patch Staff)

Incidents of Lyme disease are on the increase, and not in just the usual places. The geographical spread of the disease is widening, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).

Over the last 20 years, in the Northeast—which included counties in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts, among others—the number of counties with a high rate of the disease increased from 43 to 182, more than 320 percent.

The reason for this uptick? Climate change, according to an article on Quartz.

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

Scientists also say that as humans clear forests, popular tick targets like mice begin to find other homes, leaving ticks with fewer mammals to latch on to. So they go to another abundant source passing through their area: humans.

“Our results show that geographic expansion of high-risk areas is ongoing, emphasizing the need to identify broadly implementable and effective public health interventions to prevent human Lyme disease,” the CDC report says.

Connecticut is considered a high-risk area, as is nearly all of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Other states that saw a growth in high-risk cases include New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The CDC states If you observe any of the symptoms below, you should seek immediate medical attention.

• Red, expanding rash called erythema migrans (EM)
• Fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes
• Red rash
• Small bump or redness at the site of a tick bite

The first cases of Lyme’s disease appeared in children in Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1975. According to National Geographic, an unproven controversial theory is that it was spread from germ warfare experiments at the Plum Island Animal Disease Research Center, on Long Island Sound about eight miles from Old Lyme.

New London County

East Lyme

• Cases: 24
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 125.3
• Confirmed Cases: 16
• Probable Cases: 8

Groton

• Cases: 20
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 49.9
• Confirmed Cases: 15
• Probable Cases: 5

Ledyard

• Cases: 21
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 139.5
• Confirmed Cases: 14
• Probable Cases: 7

Lyme

• Cases: 4
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 166.3
• Confirmed Cases: 3
• Probable Cases: 1

Montville

• Cases: 32
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 163.5
• Confirmed Cases: 25
• Probable Cases: 7

New London

• Cases: 16
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 57.9
• Confirmed Cases: 13
• Probable Cases: 3

North Stonington

• Cases: 10
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 188.8
• Confirmed Cases: 9
• Probable Cases: 1

Old Lyme

• Cases: 23
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 302.5
• Confirmed Cases: 14
• Probable Cases: 9

Stonington

• Cases: 43
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 231.9
• Confirmed Cases: 36
• Probable Cases: 7

Waterford

• Cases: 41
• Rate (Per 100,000 Population): 210.1
• Confirmed Cases: 27
• Probable Cases: 14

Additional Information

• Click here to read about signs and symptoms of Lyme Disease
• Click here to read 2014 Lyme Disease cases and rates in Connecticut, organized by town and country

Jaimie Cura contributed to this report.

Photo by fairfaxcounty, via flickr creative commons