lyme disease
Riley Sims: Colors of Resilience
Riley Sims, a graduate of Ball State University and currently pursuing her graduate studies at Kent State University, combines geometric precision with spontaneous bursts of vibrant color to create a dynamic representation of life’s complexities, healing and resilience.
A key focus of Sims’ art is her intimate exploration of Lyme disease, a condition she has personally battled. However, Sims’ work goes beyond self-expression – her canvases are powerful advocacy tools. Her paintings education viewers about Lyme disease, bringing awareness to the financial and emotional challenges faced by those with the disease.
Dr. Willy Burgdorfer: One Tick at a Time
Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, born on June 27, 1925, in Basel, Switzerland, is known for transforming the understanding of tick-borne illnesses.
Burgdorfer pursued his undergraduate and doctoral studies in parasitology and tropical bacteriology at the University of Basel – where he first developed his fascination with ticks while studying how these arthropods transmitted spirochetes that caused relapsing fever. In 1951, Burgdorfer moved to the United States for a fellowship in Montana at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) – a National Institute of Health biomedical research facility for vector-borne diseases, such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever, Lyme disease and Q fever.
What Does Lyme Disease Do to Your Body?
What exactly is the connection between a tick bite and lyme disease?
While we’re not sure exactly where and when the disease originated, we do know a lot about how it works, its signs, its symptoms in humans and dogs, how it’s spread and its treatment.
Check out this video by Seeker to learn all about what lyme disease does to your body.
Tick-ing Time Bomb: The Expanding Threat of Tick-Borne Diseases
Urbanization, resistance to pesticides, and, most critically, climate change are creating ideal conditions for global tick proliferation. As these 8-legged bloodsuckers expand their territories, the world should expect a corresponding rise in Lyme disease, spotted fever, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, tick-borne encephalitis, and other conditions that infect humans, pets, and livestock.
“This is an epidemic in slow motion,” a Centers for Disease Control (CDC) tick expert and research, biologist told the Associated Press.
Ticks live on every continent except Antarctica, and while estimates of annual tick populations vary, the scientific community agrees that their numbers are growing. Researchers also are unanimous that arachnids pose an increasing health risk as mild winters and longer summers associated with global warming kill off fewer individuals, give them longer to develop and feed, and make higher elevations and northerly latitudes that previously were too intemperate or elevated more hospitable.
Tracking the Global Burden of Vector-Borne Disease
The burden of vector-borne diseases (VBDs) is one of public health’s most pressing challenges. VBDs are caused by pathogens such as arboviruses (arthropod-borne virus), bacteria, and parasites that are transmitted to humans and animals through the bites of infected arthropods including mosquitoes, ticks, sandflies, and fleas, among others. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) , “vector-borne diseases account for more than 17% of all infectious diseases, causing more than 700,000 deaths annually worldwide”.
Beyond these broad statistics, attempts to quantify the global burden of VBDs is extremely challenging – for a number of reasons. At the highest level, even “burden” has an underlying complexity in public health terms: burden may refer to the number of cases of a given disease as well as the number of deaths.
Burden can also represent Disability-adjusted Life Years (DALYs), a measure that accounts for the long-term effects of disability among the afflicted, as well as the economic impact of disease from regions and countries all the way down to households and individuals. These economic impacts can be further scrutinized as reduced productivity among the populace, increased healthcare costs, and negative impacts on tourism; all of which can directly affect the GDP and economic growth of local and regional economies. And that’s just the beginning.
Tick Season Troubles
Even while staying six feet apart, people venturing outside during quarantine are being exposed to other diseases: those carried by ticks. Ticks don’t obey any …