Tick-borne anaplasmosis surging in Maine – and it’s worse than Lyme
[CanLyme note: Canada is only a few hour flight for our many migratory birds who come from Maine (and all of USA) to Canada carrying these infected ticks to our parks, school yards and our back yards.]
November 13th, 2017
The illness produces more severe symptoms than Lyme disease and is more difficult to detect; reported cases surged from 52 five years ago to 433 so far this year.
Reported cases of a tick-borne disease are swelling in Maine this year, but it’s not Lyme disease.
Cases of anaplasmosis, an illness with flu-like symptoms that are similar to Lyme but typically more severe, have jumped from 52 a year in Maine five years ago to 433 this year, through Oct. 24, according to the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Of this year’s 433 cases, 113 were hospitalized, according to Maine CDC statistics.
The deer tick, the same tick that’s a carrier for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, is also a carrier for anaplasmosis.
Lyme – of which there have been more than 1,000 cases per year in Maine since 2011 – has established a long-term presence inMaine the state, but anaplasmosis has remained under the radar.
Until now.