Watch out for Lyme disease: Causes and risks
Apart from chronic illnesses, the COVID-19 pandemic, and known airborne diseases, one disease still riddles the United States and other countries in the Northern Hemisphere: Lyme disease. While the world heals from the pandemic, with many still practicing isolation and monitoring, Lyme disease threatens the health of kids and adults in areas where the effects of climate change are felt the most.
As Steven Rindner, a bio student from New York, explains, Lyme disease has moved at an alarming rate toward the North over the last two decades. In the U.S., tick-borne Lyme disease affects 30,000 individuals per year. Over the last couple of years, people have sought ways to break the sameness of living and working at home by taking walks and hikes at national parks and trails. As a result, more people have fallen victim to the disease, especially those who don’t know what to watch out for.
As more infrastructures are built on cleared forests, the safe distance between nature and humans has been compromised. With buildings constructed near natural habitats, humans are closer to animals that could be disease carriers. In addition, rising temperatures, an undeniable cause of climate change, permits ticks to start their season earlier. Its direct result is a blood feast in autumn, providing the ticks an opportunity to thrive in the thick of winter. A professor who has linked climate crisis to serious tick activity believes that the occurrence is a nightmare, with professors, researchers, and medical professionals witnessing more tick-borne diseases in numerous locations.
Lyme disease isn’t a health issue that is easy to treat using antibiotics or other medications, shares bio student Steven Rindner. The best way to combat tick-borne disease is through prevention and early diagnosis. Actions that aim to reduce the population of rodents carrying ticks are among researchers’ best bets in curbing the number of Lyme disease cases nationwide.
