Lyme disease reports on rise, MA 6-4-06

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Lyme disease reports on rise, MA

The Republican

Sunday, June 04, 2006
By JENNIFER PICARD

Public health officials, concerned about last year's 44 percent
increase of reported Lyme disease cases, are urging people to take
precautions against tick bites this spring and summer.

Mild winter and spring weather means deer ticks, which carry the
disease, and humans have encountered one another a little earlier than
usual this year, said Dr. Bela T. Matyas, medical director of the state
Department of Public Health's epidemiology program.

"Ticks are more active whenever the weather permits them to be, so
they're generally active between early spring and late fall," Matyas
said.

Ted S. Wysocki, vice chairman of the Board of Health in Wales, said the
tick population was already high in early May.

"This year, I've already had to go in the woods a few times, and have
come back covered - eight or nine (ticks) per trip," Wysocki said.

Lyme disease cases across the state are rising. Statewide, preliminary
counts show 2,330 confirmed cases in 2005, a 44 percent increase from
the 1,617 cases recorded in 2004 by state public health officials.

"Last year, we had a huge increase over the year before, so it's
certainly possible that (cases) could increase" this year, Matyas said.

"There is more Lyme disease in more counties, and what concerns us is
seeing more cases than we had had before," he said.

In Hampden County, preliminary figures list 118 confirmed Lyme disease
cases in 2005 with 88 cases in 2004. In Hampshire County, cases were up
55 percent from 2004 to 2005, from 44 cases to 68 reported in 2005,
said Matyas.

Franklin County's cases increased by 60 percent in 2005, from 15 cases
to 24, he said.

Preliminary results from a study conducted in Western Massachusetts
towns about five years ago found that 3 percent of 250 people tested
had antibodies for Lyme disease in their blood, said Dr. Peter J.
Krause, who conducted the study. He is the head of infectious diseases
at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford.

While the data means inland cases are on the rise, it doesn't
distinguish where Western Massachusetts residents from Brimfield,
Wales, Ludlow and other towns may have contracted the antibodies from a
tick bite, said Krause. For example, some people tested may have been
bitten by ticks while vacationing on Cape Cod.

"Most coastal areas have higher rates - at least, that's been
traditionally so. Now, you're seeing higher rates (inland)," Krause
said.

Krause's study, which has not been published, was performed with a
grant from the National Institute of Health's National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, from 1997 to 2003. Krause said the
study's funding was not renewed, but federal privacy regulations
prohibit agency officials from commenting upon why a particular
application was not funded or renewed, according to a spokesman for the
allergy institute.

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease were discovered in the United
States when a number of children in and around Lyme, Conn., developed
arthritis-like symptoms in the mid-1970s.

People get it by being bitten by infected deer ticks, which are about
the size of poppy seeds. An estimated 20,000 cases are reported each
year in the United States, but some experts say cases may be vastly
underreported.

Early symptoms include a reddish, bulls-eye rash where the bite was,
followed by fever, headache, fatigue and muscle or joint pain. Lyme
disease can be treated with antibiotics, but untreated cases can lead
to complications including meningitis and heart abnormalities.

Matyas said prevention from tick bites is key. When walking in the
woods, wear light-colored clothes, so ticks are easier to see, with
long pants and sleeves, to minimize tick-to-skin contact. Using insect
repellent and avoiding walks through tall grass can also help, he said.

Ticks embedded in the skin can be removed by pulling out the insect
with tweezers, grasping the tick by its head, said Matyas.

Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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