TBPS
Tick-borne Diseases
Lyme Disease
Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia Burgdorferi. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of blacklegged or deer ticks – Ixodes Scapulari. In most instances, the tick must be attached to the body for 36-48 hours before the bacteria causing Lyme Disease is transmitted to the person or pet.
The CDC estimates that there are about 300,000 cases of Lyme Disease per year, over 96% of which are concentrated in the Northeast and upper Midwest of the United States. Most cases of Lyme Disease occur between May and October.
Research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that a prolonged illness associated with the disease in some patients is more widespread and serious than previously understood. With an estimated 240,000 to 440,000 new cases of the tick-borne illness diagnosed every year, the researchers found that Lyme disease costs the U.S. health care system between $712 million and $1.3 billion a year.
