Statistics | Northern Rockies Lyme Disease Coalition

Lyme disease is a serious tick-borne illness caused by bacteria of the genus Borrelia, corkscrew-shaped spirochetes. Symptoms include fatigue, chills, fever, headache, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes, and sometimes a bulls-eye rash. If not diagnosed and promptly treated with antibiotics, later stage Lyme progresses to increasingly debilitating symptoms. These symptoms may include Bell’s palsy, meningitis, pain and swelling in the large joints, sleep disturbances, and/or Lyme carditis.¹ Although CDC estimates about 10 to 20% of patients report continuing symptoms after treatment, or Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), other researchers believe the percentage is higher.

Continue reading A Call for Increased Lyme Disease Research Funding ~ Guest Post By Elaine Hallisey

Not really. At least, not just yet.

But we are building a preliminary map, for which we currently need your assistance. If you have lived with or may have contracted Lyme disease in the Northern Rockies (MT, WY, ID, ND, SD, BC, ALBERTA, SASKATCHEWAN) please share the location here. (You can find other ways to help us in the short term, including awareness opportunities here and via other groups, by watching for related pages and requests, including our first request linked here.)

We are certainly wondering about those things in the title (though we are not implying we can actually tackle these questions here). The actual purpose of this article is illustrate that we have reasonable expectations regarding the value vs. limitations of the information our initial map will provide and the importance of asking and answering the right questions over time.

Continue reading Estimating Distribution, Abundance, and Medical-Care-Migration Patterns Of Northern Rockies Lyme Disease Patients?