Lyme Disease On The Rise In Pennsylvania: CDC Study

By MARC TORRENCE (Patch National Staff)

Incidents of Lyme disease are on the rise, not only in traditionally affected areas, but in some that haven’t historically been exposed to the disease.

That’s according to a new report from the Centers For Disease Control, which looked at data in high-risk counties.

In the Northeast—which included counties in Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Connecticut and Massachusetts among others—the number counties with a high rate of the disease increased by more than 320 percent.

In the north-central counties in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa, where Lyme disease isn’t historically seen, that rate was up 250 percent.

The reason for this uptick? Climate change, the scientists say.

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.

Lyme disease is a nasty infection caused by tick bites and has been in national news recently when Canadian pop star Avril Lavigne caught the disease and cried through an interview about it on Good Morning America.