Lyme Disease Cases Are Exploding

Experts say the worldwide tick population is exploding, triggering a dramatic spike in the incidence of Lyme disease and a rise in other tick-borne illnesses, some of which, like Powassan, are far more dangerous than Lyme. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of confirmed cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. has more than doubled in the two decades leading up to 2017 (the most recent year for which final figures are available) and increased 17% from 2016 to 2017 alone. Although conspiracy theorists have suggested — falsely — that Lyme disease was created in a U.S. military lab, it is true that in the years following World War II, the U.S. employed top German scientists who explored the tick’s potential in biological warfare for Nazi Germany.

Source: elemental.medium.com