These rapidly-spreading ticks are becoming a health threat across many states as they become hungry for blood. A few months ago, Avril Lavigne was left bed-ridden for five months due to Lyme disease and now, more focus is geared on this hard-to-diagnose infection.
Lyme disease is an infection cause by tick bites. However, worse comes to worst, these ticks carrying Lyme and other infections are continuously growing. One factor that has contributed to this menace is global warming. When the world is becoming hotter, ticks tend to multiply and search for new regions, higher places and now, they might invade spring seasons, reports Huffington Post.
According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, there are about 240,000 to 440,000 new cases of Lyme disease every year in the United States. In their study, they patterned the impact of Lyme disease on health care costs and utilization. They also reiterated one complication of Lyme disease that has struck singer Avril Lavigne.
Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome is a complication and is estimated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have a rate of 10 to 20% in individuals who previously had Lyme disease.
Now, scientists have estimated that ticks are going west and have reached places like North Dakota for the first time. Furthermore, they found out that it expands in California as they reported their first case of Lyme disease in 1978 and from then on, it has dramatically increased. In fact, from 1989 to 2006, there are more than 2,000 cases of Lyme disease reported in the state.
Meanwhile, Lyme disease cases were reported in the northeast and Midwest of the United States and now it has come to invade Canada. Ticks can now survive mild winter seasons and this poses a threat to the country.
Lyme disease is caused by bites of the blacklegged ticks which carry the pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. It may cause symptoms like rashes, fever, fatigue and headache. If left untreated, it can lead to alterations of the heart, joints and nervous system.
