Global Warming May Spread Lyme Disease

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of confirmed cases of Lyme disease in the United States has been on an upward trend. In 1995, there were 11,700 confirmed cases. In 2013, there were 27,203 confirmed cases, as well as another 9,104 probable cases. Ninety-five percent of reported cases in 2013 came from 14 states—located primarily in the Mid-Atlantic, Northeast and Upper Midwest. According to a recent study published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, climate change is increasing not only the range in which Lyme disease-carrying ticks can survive—ticks are moving into warming Canada and other northern locations—but the amount of time in which ticks can feed.