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1. As many as 64% of patients with Lyme Disease do not remember being bitten by a tick.
2. Health insurance rarely covers treatment and testing for Lyme Disease.
3. Many of the reported cases are children.
4. In 2012, 95% of Lyme disease cases were reported from 13 states.
5. Standard testing has an accuracy of 50%, meaning the test is essentially a coin flip.
6. It is often misdiagnosed as MS, ALS, Chronic Fatigue, Fibromyalgia, Autism, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, etc.
7. The average patient takes 2-3 years to get diagnosed correctly.
8. The CDC estimates that there are 325,000 cases of Lyme Disease each year in the US alone.
9. Short-term treatment fails for over 90% of Chronic Lyme Disease patients.
10. Lyme Disease transmission is not limited to ticks. People can be infected by mosquitos, spiders, or even bed bugs.
11. Lyme Disease can affect any part of the body's systems and/or organs. Lyme and associated tick-borne diseases can lead to neurologic, cardiac, psychiatric and arthritic symptoms.
12. Lyme Disease was discovered in 1975 in Lyme, Connecticut when a staggering number of children and adults were diagnosed with arthritis. When looked into, the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi was identified.
Lyme is a fatal illness.
Sources:
http://lymelightfoundation.org/about-lyme/ten-things-you-should-know-about-lyme-disease/
http://visual.ly/10-scary-facts-about-lyme-disease
http://www.freewebs.com/teenswithlyme/
http://www.ct.gov/dph/cwp/view.asp?a=3136&q=388506
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