Scientists Tackle the 'Difficult Problem' of How Warming Spreads Lyme Disease

The number of confirmed cases of Lyme disease in the United States has been on an upward trend, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  In 1995, there were 11,700 confirmed cases.  In 2013, there were 27,203 confirmed cases, as well as another 9,104 probable cases.  Ninety-five percent of reported cases in 2013 came from 14 states -- located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Upper Midwest.  Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector-borne disease reported in the United States.

Climate change is increasing not only the range in which Lyme disease-carrying ticks can survive -- ticks are moving into warming Canada and other northern locations -- but the amount of time in which ticks can feed, according to a recent study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B.

This finding -- a result of an extensive 19-year field study of blacklegged ticks -- has led researcher Richard Ostfeld to conclude that Lyme Disease Awareness Month should be moved up from May to April.

"In order to get the greatest efficacy from Lyme disease public awareness campaigns, we want to do them at the right time," said Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.  "We're arguing that ticks are on the move and becoming active earlier and earlier as the climate warms."

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