Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Lyme Disease On The Rise

Blame all the deer and white-footed mice around our parts -- they typically harbor the nasty little ticks that carry Lyme disease.

The county was tops in the state for the number of recorded cases, according to the ExploreHoward blog.

There were 369 confirmed and probable cases reported in Howard County in 2008, according to the report, 11 more than in 2007.

Montgomery County, which had been tops in the state, was second to Howard in 2008 with 314 cases, down from 475 the previous year.

Statewide, the total decreased from 2,576 cases in 2007 to 2,216 in 2008.


The county's health department suggests anyone who finds a tick consider getting checked out, though a tick generally needs to be attached to the skin for about 24 hours to become infected. Click here for more deets.

1 comment:

Carolyn Brown said...

I have lived in HC for 20 yrs and have been sick for the past 18 months. That is how long it took me to get diagnosed. It is a difficult disease to accurately diagnose and I believe the numbers of infected people is much high than reported. I was finally diagnosed in VA after finding a lyme litterate physician. I'm sure my case wasn't reported t the HCHD.
Seabrownrn