Combating Lyme Disease

Combating Lyme Disease

In the United States, Lyme disease was first recognized in 1975 in the towns of Lyme and Old Lyme, Connecticut (Steere, Malawista, & Syndman, 1987). While Connecticut has the highest incidence rate of Lyme disease in the world, the disease affects citizens in every state in the nation and countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. National surveillance for Lyme disease was established by the United States Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in 1982. Since that time, the number of reported cases has increased 19-fold, from 497 cases in 1982 to 13,083 cases in 1994 (Centers for Disease Control, 1994). Lyme disease is now themost common tick borne illness in the United States (Dennis, 1991).While sporadic cases have been reported from most states, Lyme disease is concentrated in three focal areas of the country; from Massachusetts to Maryland in the northeast, in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the Midwest, and in California and Oregon in the west (Steere, 1989). In 1993, the highest rate of Lyme disease in the world was reported in Connecticut (62.2 cases per 100,000; Centers for Disease Control, 1994).

The disease is transmitted through the bite of an infected tick, commonly referred to as a deer tick (in Connecticut; it has other names in other parts of the country). Because this is the only way Lyme disease is transmitted, many consider it to be the single most preventable disease in Connecticut. Simply performing certain protective behaviors, for example wearing long pants, using insect repellent, and checking one's self for ticks, the probability of being bitten decreases, thereby decreasing the incidence of Lyme disease. Children are at particular risk of infection because they play ball, run in the fields, and are not likely to notice the attached tick until it is too late.

During the last five years we have been working with the United States Centers for Disease Control on Lyme disease education. Our goal has been to...