Time to think about preventing Lyme disease

Time to think about preventing Lyme disease

“I can’t have Lyme disease,” my friend’s 70-year-old father said last summer when he helped me move a mattress into our new apartment. “I haven’t been bitten by a tick—”

“—you know,” I interjected, before continuing to quickly inquire about the growing circular bull’s-eye rash on his arms, a telltale sign of Lyme disease.

After learning that he was hiking in a forest park in Michigan a few weeks ago and was feeling tired and confused recently, I exclaimed that he should see a doctor and make sure to get tested for Lyme disease.

A few days later, I got a text from a friend: “I’m so glad you were able to talk to my dad, who was diagnosed with Lyme disease and is now receiving treatment.”

That’s not entirely surprising, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that there are more than 476,000 cases of Lyme disease in the United States each year, making it the most common vector-borne disease in North America.

When suspected and diagnosed early, Lyme disease can be easily treated with antibiotics. However, if left untreated, bacterial infections can lead to potentially life-changing long-term problems such as neurological disorders, cognitive impairment, arthritis, and general malaise.

A sort of Learn A 2019 study at Brown University found that as many as 2 million people in the United States may suffer from these long-term symptoms.

My friend’s father was lucky enough to quickly contract this characteristic rash. However, according to the CDC, about 20 to 30 percent of people with Lyme disease never develop a bull’s-eye rash, and because Lyme disease symptoms are unclear and difficult to detect, it can occur months before diagnosis.

Additionally, diagnostic images used in clinical settings are often pink rashes on white skin, which contributes to medical racism and may lead to under-diagnosis and delays in Lyme disease in people of color. Dan Ly at UCLA with 2021 Learn It was found that one-third of newly diagnosed black patients already had neurological complications of Lyme disease, compared with only one-tenth of white patients.

So how can you completely avoid Lyme disease infection? By preventing tick bites.

As we enter tick season, usually April to November in New York, it’s important to know what to look for. When people describe their experiences and encounters with ticks, they usually describe adult ticks, which are relatively easy to spot and eliminate before they have a chance to transmit the pathogen that causes Lyme disease.

Ticks can be the size of a poppy seed. Can you spot all 5 ticks in this photo? Learn how to prevent tick bites. https://t.co/ATTRY7YFoS pic.twitter.com/gBm4tw2qmf

– Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (@CDCgov) May 4, 2018

The real threat to human health is the nymph tick – the life stage between larvae and adults.

The first time I saw nymph ticks, a friend and I were camping in a forested area in New Jersey where we knew there might be ticks. In preparation for the trip, my friend wisely bought us both a pair of (ironically lime green) socks that were advertised as repelling ticks.

As we were making camp food, I noticed something black – no bigger than a poppy seed – contrasting with the bright green of my socks and crawling up my bare legs. Despite spraying myself with insecticide and sacrificing functionality, there was a nymph deer tick, a tick that transmits Lyme disease, ready to make my next meal.

We scanned every inch of our body that night and didn’t sleep well, knowing that something so small could be buried in our hair or somewhere else that couldn’t be found.

In her study of Lyme disease transmission, the author and her colleagues drag a cloth across the ground to collect ticks.Photo: Mary Lily

I later went on to study disease ecology and learned how tick-borne diseases like Lyme are increasing globally, in large part due to human-driven changes such as deforestation, human encroachment and climate change.

Two years into my master’s program, after a full day of research in the field, I developed a small, mysterious bull’s-eye rash on my knee. I blamed myself and thought, how can this happen when I know exactly what to look for and check myself daily for ticks?

Maybe I’m too lazy to look close enough on a tired afternoon. It’s also possible that I checked as best I could, but my fingers missed the tiny invertebrates locked to me.

I got a quick diagnosis and worked my way through a two-week course of antibiotics. I was lucky not to experience any other complications.

With the rise of tick-borne diseases, coupled with the fact that the ticks most capable of transmitting the disease are almost microscopic, preventing tick bites and Lyme disease cannot be the sole responsibility of the individual as it is now. It’s all too easy to miss a harmful infection.

Federal funding for tick-borne disease research has increased over the past decade, but not enough to stem the rise in tick-borne disease cases. Funding remains low compared to other infectious diseases.

In 2018, the National Institutes of Health awarded $30 million for Lyme disease research — just $63 per estimated case — while West Nile virus research received $36 million, according to a study published in Frontiers of Medicine.

many Astonishing scientists Efforts are underway to understand the complex transmission dynamics that lead to an increase in tick-borne diseases. Now we need the public service to catch up and increase funding for applied intervention efforts to stop tick-human contact in the first place and ultimately prevent the spread of tick-borne diseases.

Mary Lily is a Ph.D.Columbia University student Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Biology Program.