Lyme disease prevalence increased in US, tied to climate change

Healio: The incidence of Lyme disease increased about 80% in the United States from 1993 to 2007, according to new data published in CMAJ Open. Although the prevalence of Lyme disease varied from state to state, its increase has been linked to climate change.

 “Our findings are consistent with the hypothesis that increases in Lyme disease incidence in recent decades are attributable at least in part of the effects of climate change, with increasing rates of change observed at more northerly latitudes, and declines in disease incidence in the southernmost states,” the researchers wrote.

David N. Fisman, MD, MPH, of the University of Toronto Dalla Lana School of Public Health, and colleagues estimated the incidence rate ratios (IRRs) for Lyme disease for the 1993-2007 period on a state-by-state and year-by-year basis. Additional analyses were conducted to examine the heterogeneity of the disease between states and to identify state-level characteristics associated with its increasing prevalence....

Borrelia drawing (Borrelia burgdorferi) ; Borrelia is a genus of bacteria of the spirochete phylum. It causes borreliosis, a zoonotic, vector-borne disease transmitted primarily by ticks and some by lice, depending on the species. There are 36 known species of Borrelia. Drawn by Lamiot, Wikimedia Commons, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license