The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released new statistics on the US incidence rate of Lyme disease and confirmed its alarming increment during the '2013 International Conference on Lyme Borreliosis and Other Tick-Borne Diseases' in Boston, Sunday night.
According to the data presented by the CDC health officials, the current estimates on the prevalence of the disease has reached a whopping 300,000 people per year rate as opposed to the former report suggesting that lyme disease strikes roughly 20,000 to 30,000 people per year, making the disease the leading tick-borne illnes all over the country to date.
"We know that routine surveillance only gives us part of the picture, and that the true number of illnesses is much greater," said chief of epidemiology and surveillance for CDC's Lyme Disease Program Dr. Paul Mead. "This new preliminary estimate confirms that Lyme disease is a tremendous public health problem in the United States, and clearly highlights the urgent need for prevention."
Since the figures presented accounted only for the reported cases, the health agency recognized the possibility that the data could probably be much higher if all unreported cases were also covered. Nevertheless, the new report is, by far, the most comprehensive estimate the center can provide the public.
The number of cases derived from the study was generated through the exhaustive effort of surveying seven national laboratories, reviewing patient insurance information, and interviewing and surveying hospital patients from 13 different states including: Connecticut, Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, among others.
Because of the foreboding threat the incidence rate of Lyme disease has become, CDC mentioned in the conference that people should be wary of any ticks; taking regular showers and wearing insect repellent outdoors were also advised.
Lyme disease was named after Lyme, Conn., the area where the tick-borne illness was first isolated. It is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a gram-negative spirochete that is generally harbored by infected deer ticks. While most patients recover through antibiotic treatment, the disease can progress to serious complications if left untreated.
"We need to move to a broader approach to tick reduction, involving entire communities, to combat this public health problem," said director of CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Diseases Dr. Lyle R. Peterson.
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