Summer Weather May Have Actually Helped Keep Lyme Disease Down
This has been one of those summers where people have had all sorts of things to say about a variety of subjects. It seems every time you turned around, it was a story about the heat, or rabies, or the amount of tick-borne Lyme Disease. In fact, in the cases of rabies and Lyme Diease, there was lots of chit-chat, but as it turns out, both of those maladies actually had lower numbers of cases than expected. And certainly not as many as the constant exposure from the media made it seem.
According to an article form the Associated Press, this years summer of hot weather, seems to have actually kept the number of new cases of Lyme disease lower than anticipated. there was a lot of anticipation that it would be a bumper year for ticks and the diseases they carry. there's been a steady increase in Maine the last few years, so it's been a bit of a surprise.
Charles Lubelczyk, a field biologist with the Maine Medical Center Research Institute in Scarborough said,
They aren't as active as they would normally be. That may translate into less risk for some people. This is also being reported in other parts of New England as well
Some of the factors besides the heat that may be contributing to the drop is last summer's end-season drought, and some of this years heavier rains. Ticks don't always do well in extremes. Hot, cold, wet, and dry. Any sort of major upheaval seems to wreak havoc on them.
So, let's hope maybe this trend continues, and we can finally get the tick population under control. Lord knows, we could use a few less cases of Lyme Disease. It seems everyone knows someone who has it. And it's a real serious downer for those that do have it. So let's cross our fingers, and wait and see!