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LD accounts
for 90% of vector-borne infections in the U.S. From 1980 to 2005
268,330 cases have been reported from 49 states. (For the latest
figures go here.)
Montana is
the only state having no federally reported cases of Lyme disease.
Those patients who have acquired the infection in their state
are not yet being reported past the state level.
Due to underreporting,
the disease case count is likely to be 13 - 15 times higher.
However, those are the cases that fit the government narrow case
reporting criteria. The true number of cases may be significantly
higher.
Evidence of
infection has been found on all continents - from positive cultures,
to positive antibody tests with clinical signs, to infected ticks
on birds. |
