Bad summer of tick-borne illnesses expected (WBAL)
With summer right around the corner, experts are expressing concerns over the threat of a bad season for tick-borne illnesses.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports hundreds of thousands of cases of Lyme disease each year. But an unusually warm winter has now sparked concerns that those numbers will grow this summer.
“We saw an absolute plague of white-footed mice last summer,” Richard Ostfeld, of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, said.
Mice, like deer, spread ticks, and after a milder winter, scientists said fewer of them died off.
“The year after a big mouse boom is a very large population of infected ticks,” Ostfeld said.
The CDC estimates 300,000 cases of Lyme disease each year, and officials expect that number to rise this summer.