Every year 16,000 cases of lyme disease are reported to the Centers for Disease Control, and the CDC says many more go unreported. In the Northeast and Upper Midwest, the disease is spread by deer ticks. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz reports, their numbers are rising:
Transcript
Every year 16-thousand cases of lyme disease are reported to the Centers for Disease Control, and the CDC says many more go unreported. In the Northeast and Upper Midwest, the disease is spread by deer ticks. And as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium¹s Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz reports, their numbers are rising:
The CDC began tracking lyme disease 20 years ago. In that time, more than
180-thousand cases have been reported. A CDC map of lyme disease makes it clear
that Northeastern areas are at highest risk. But many localized areas of infection can
be seen throughout the Upper Midwest as well, including parts of Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Michigan.
Steve Jacobs is an entomologist at Penn State. He¹s been studying ticks in
Pennsylvania and says their numbers are growing, largely as a result of deer
overpopulation. With loggers cutting down fewer trees, deer enjoy more forested
habitat. And it hasn’t helped that city dwellers are buying large properties in the
suburbs, and leaving some of their land forested. But according to Jacobs, more ticks
doesn’t need to mean more cases of lyme disease.
“Even if the tick population is expanding, as I think it is, the fact that people are aware
and are taking precautions, like using a repellant such as DEET, may offset the
increase in ticks somewhat.”
There’s other good news as well. Jacobs says promising new research involving
insecticide may mean fewer deer ticks in the future. For the Great Lakes Radio
Consortium, I’m Cindi Deutschman-Ruiz.