{"id":2754,"date":"2019-04-25T01:19:38","date_gmt":"2019-04-25T01:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alternativeearthcare.com\/tick-spraying-and-control-on-east-end-long-island\/?p=2754"},"modified":"2019-05-10T18:34:44","modified_gmt":"2019-05-10T18:34:44","slug":"alternative-earthcare-warns-untreatable-form-of-lyme-disease-could-hit-2-million-americans-by-2020-as-per-science-organizations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alternativeearthcare.com\/tick-spraying-and-control-on-east-end-long-island\/alternative-earthcare-warns-untreatable-form-of-lyme-disease-could-hit-2-million-americans-by-2020-as-per-science-organizations\/","title":{"rendered":"Alternative Earthcare Warns Untreatable Form of Lyme Disease Could Hit 2 Million Americans by 2020 as per Science Organizations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alternative Earthcare Warns Untreatable Form of Lyme Disease Could Hit 2 Million Americans by 2020 as per Science Organizations<\/strong><\/h3>\n

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Scientists predict the number of people suffering from a little-understood type of\u00a0Lyme disease\u00a0could spike to almost 2 million in 2020.<\/p>\n

The most common vector-borne illness in the U.S., Lyme disease is\u00a0caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi <\/em>bacterium, which is spread by infected ticks. Sufferers can have a fever, headache, chills, fatigue, joint and muscle ache and\u00a0swollen lymph nodes. In many cases, patients experience an erythema migrans rash that can grow up to 12 inches around the area of the tick bite. Around 329,000 cases are thought to occur each year, although the true number of infections is thought to be higher.<\/p>\n

In most cases, doctors prescribe\u00a0antibiotics and the symptoms pass. However, for others the symptoms can linger in what is known as post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD) or\u00a0post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. The condition is characterized by cognitive dysfunction, incapacitating fatigue and chronic pain, according to the\u00a0authors of a study published in the journal BMC Public Health.<\/em><\/p>\n

The condition is poorly understood; there is no set diagnosis for it, and treatment is controversial, the authors wrote. The cause\u00a0is unknown\u2014some believe the bug can disrupt the immune system\u2014and it\u00a0can take months to recover. Past estimates suggest treatments fail in between 10 and\u00a020 percent of cases, which could cost the U.S. economy up to $1 billion per year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough antibiotic therapy cures most LD patients, a significant proportion of patients continue to suffer persisting symptoms that can derail normal life,\u201d the researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

It can therefore be tough to find accurate data on the prevalence of PTLD, and diagnosis can involve ruling out other health problems.<\/p>\n

For their study, the scientists drew on several pools of data to create a model to estimate the number of PTLD cases that occurred between 2016 and 2020. That included data collected by the U.S.\u00a0Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as well as\u00a0past estimates of Lyme disease rates, survival rates\u00a0and examples of treatments failing.<\/p>\n

A conservative estimate made by the researchers suggested that 69,011 cases of PTLD occurred in 2016, which will\u00a0rise to 81,509 cases in 2020. In another model, the researchers accounted for cases rising from the 1980s, combined with treatment failing in 20 percent of cases. The result was 1,523,869 cases in 2016 and 1,944,189 forecast for 2020.<\/p>\n

The authors acknowledged that it remains unclear which is the most accurate estimation.<\/p>\n

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