Lyme Disease is On the Rise

People who live in the Northeast are aware of Lyme disease; a baffling, debilitating, bacterial infection spread by bites from certain types of ticks.  Lyme disease is difficult to treat if not detected and treated early.  The forecast is for an increase in the number of cases of Lyme disease this summer. The reason is an increase in the population of field mice last year; mice, it turns out, are a preferred host of the ticks that spread the disease.

Cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. have tripled in the past 20 years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  For more on why that is, see the recent article in The New York Times.

How can you prevent becoming infected? Your best defense is to avoid being bitten by ticks.  If you are outside in a tick-infested area, be sure to check yourself carefully for ticks after coming back inside.  Most ticks won't actually bite you in the first 12-24 hours or so, so it pays to get them off of you as soon as possible.