Cdc Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is a disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi which is transmitted when deer ticks (Ixodes scapularis) bite human beings. The Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lyme disease reports that the deer tick, which mostly feeds on birds, white-footed mouse, mammals like white-tailed deer among others are the culprits behind this disease in human beings in the North-central and northeastern United States.

The number of annually reported Lyme disease cases in the US as per the CDC Lyme disease data has immensely increased about 25-fold since the national Lyme disease surveillance started back in the year 1982. The mean is circa 12,500 cases of the disease annually were reported by the different states to the CDC between years 1993 and 1997. CDC Lyme disease however reports that the disease in the US is most prevalent in mid-Atlantic, northeastern, and upper north central regions to a number of counties in northwestern California.

Researches conducted by CDC Lyme Disease show that infections of the disease are as a result of exposure to infected deer ticks during recreation, property maintenance, and leisure activities. Therefore, individuals who work or live in residential areas which are surrounded by overgrown brush or woods infested by these ticks are more prone to getting Lyme disease. Additionally, individuals who take part in recreational activities away from home like camping, hiking, hunting, and fishing in tick habitats, and individuals who engage in outdoor occupations like forestry, brush clearing, landscaping, and management of parks and wildlife in the rife areas may also be at risk of contracting Lyme disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Lyme Disease track cases of the disease using stringent surveillance criteria (which is not meant to diagnose individual cases). The disease incidence has gradually increased over time, which is not merely a result of more awareness and increased recognition because in states that perform active Lyme Disease surveillance, the geographic range and true incidence of the disease have greatly increased.

The high likely cause of the increase is the expansion of the deer tick herds as well as the expanded scope of the vector. CDC Lyme disease epidemiologic data has reasons to make people conclude that the actual incidence of the disease may be as much as 10 times higher than what is reflected in the CDC data. This might perhaps be as a result of inevitable misdiagnosis, restrictive case definition for the CDC, and the mere fact that doctors tend to underreport potential reportable diseases of any kind.

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