{"id":68986,"date":"2005-08-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-08-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/got-lyme-disease-youre-definitely-not-alone\/"},"modified":"2005-08-19T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-08-19T00:00:00","slug":"got-lyme-disease-youre-definitely-not-alone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2005\/08\/got-lyme-disease-youre-definitely-not-alone\/","title":{"rendered":"Got Lyme disease? You\u2019re definitely not alone"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tTick abundance this summer was higher than ever<\/p>\n


\n\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 19, 2005 \u2013 Are you experiencing the joint pain, fatigue and bulls eye-like rash that are typical symptoms of Lyme disease? How about persistent spiking fevers and chills and lethargy that are common signs of babesiosis? Or high fevers and excruciating headaches that come from anaplasmosis. If so, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n


\n\tAccording to a äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾ tick researcher, it should come as no surprise that an increasing number of Rhode Islanders were infected with Lyme disease or another tick-borne disease this year, given the high numbers of ticks his research team has found in statewide surveys.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cOur statistics show that tick abundance this year was up 84.5 percent over last year\u2019s levels, and the tick counts for this summer are 109 percent higher than the previous 13 year average,\u201d said Thomas Mather, director of äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Center for Vector-Borne Disease.<\/p>\n


\n\tWhile data on human Lyme disease cases occurring in Rhode Island is typically recorded by the Department of Health, Mather is convinced that this year will be a record-breaking year for cases of the disease.<\/p>\n


\n\t\u201cThe peak of nymphal blacklegged (deer) tick activity, which typically is in mid-June, extended into mid-July this year — several weeks longer than normal — and the peak of Lyme disease cases occurs usually about two or three weeks after the tick activity peak. So it\u2019s likely that many people are just now beginning to experience symptoms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n


\n\tMather has been monitoring tick abundance in the state since 1993, and with the exception of one year, his annual tick risk data have corresponded with the number of Lyme disease cases reported for that year. \u201cLyme disease is a product of tick abundance and human exposure to ticks,\u201d Mather explained. \u201cThis summer we saw a double whammy\u2014the confluence of more ticks and longer seasonal exposure.\u201d <\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe only good news is that the hot, dry conditions have finally taken their toll on the nymphal ticks,\u201d he added, \u201cand people are at much less risk now.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tick abundance this summer was higher than ever KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 19, 2005 \u2013 Are you experiencing the joint pain, fatigue and bulls eye-like rash that are typical symptoms of Lyme disease? How about persistent spiking fevers and chills and lethargy that are common signs of babesiosis? Or high fevers and excruciating headaches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}