Recently, about a week ago, temperatures soared in Deerfield, IL. I can’t remember the last time the temperature reached 80 degrees in March. In addition to flours and trees blooming early, many insects and animals came out of hibernation. Although we mainly think of only getting mosquito bites in warm weather, recently, ticks have started to latch on to more and more people, giving them Lyme Disease. It was that same hot week that we found numerous ticks on kids during gymnastics practice. After doing a little research, I found many interesting conclusions. It turns out that, “A quarter of all Lyme disease cases are among children.” At the highest risk are kids ages 5 to 17, who are more likely to play outdoors.
In addition, due to the recent temperature highs, overall numbers are on the rise. The number of people contracting Lyme each year jumped from about 27 to 45 of every 100,000 people. Around 15,000 cases nationwide were reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the late 1990s. That number is now 30,000 to 40,000, although the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) admits it could be as much as 12 times higher.
Lyme is just one of many emerging infectious diseases that are soaring in North America. Experts say that increasing temperatures and altered precipitation patterns that continue to change are already playing a role in the “spread of zoonoses -- infectious agents that begin in animals and account for an estimated 75 percent of all newly emerging diseases.”
"There are lots of factors that contribute," says Ben Beard, a climate change expert with the CDC, highlighting the influence of international travel, wildlife management and the suburban lifestyle on emerging infectious diseases. "But climate disruption and change clearly have an impact."
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