The highest amount of victims of Lyme Disease in USA originate from Pennsylvania, according to a fresh study. It has infected nearly 30,000 Americans since 2009. As the disease nears its peak season, Pennsylvania head US statistics in Lyme Disease reported cases.
The disease, which according to most recent figures infected close to 30,000 Americans in 2009, is approaching its peak season — and Pennsylvania leads the country in the number of reported cases.
Lyme Disease is caused due to the bite of a deer tick. This and such other tick borne diseases are being a huge financial strain to the US health care system and are causing great harm to thousands of Americans each year, many of them who have known to be in bad shape and condition till they are diagnosed properly.
Dr. Stephen Ostroff, acting physician general with the Pennsylvania Department of Health says,” “We have seen an expansion in the parts of the state that are impacted by Lyme disease. The tick is clearly moving away from coastal areas in the Northeast into the interior.”
Since the past decade, Lyme disease has grown 78 percent. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the cases have risen from 2,781 to 4,950. The places in Pennsylvania which were deemed safe once upon a time, are now the havens for the disease to proliferate. The past five years have witnessed Lyme disease spreading quickly in areas like Monroe, Northampton and Lehigh counties.
What is the reason for the increase? Well, some say that the migration of people to rural areas and a rise in the population of the white deer are the obvious causes. One more thing to note I the increase of white-footed mice, rodents that have increased the bacterial spread.
Lyme Disease can deceive you as well, for instance, Michelle Rodgers, a 37 year old woman who lives in Lehigh says that she was bitten by a tick when she was doing work at her residence yard. She got a rash and it did not really look anything like the usual indicating symptom of Lyme infection-the egg-shaped bull’s eye. She was tested negative for the bacteria many times, before finally testing positive. The result is that she has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and has been undergoing treatment for many years. The sad outcome of the wrong diagnosis is that she is physically incapable of working any more and has to deal with expensive health-care bills. Additionally, she also has bladder issues, encephalitis and numbness in one side of the body.
