Lyme Handbook

Excerpted from the Examiner.COM ( Posted: 07/22/2010 )

Linda Easton, CHN, the supervisor of the Disease Control Unit in the Monroe County Department of Health, today provided some current data on the number of cases of select reportable diseases in the county for 2010. They are shown in the table above. The 2009 number, in red, was provided by the New York State Department of Health. Both are considered provisional until the agencies complete final reporting approvals.

It is clear from the data so far that the Rochester / Monroe County New York area has seen few cases of those illness outbreaks elsewhere in New York or in the United States. Ms. Easton pointed out the this is Lyme disease season and that additional cases ought to be anticipated. She confirmed the existence of an outbreak of whooping cough in the Syracuse / Onondaga County area.

Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report 9,513 cases of Lyme Disease through July 17, the MMWR Week 28 report. That number of cases is 51% of the total last year at the same time. Massachusetts had the greatest number of cases last year, and reported its first 683 cases in this week. It is unclear if there were reporting or recording errors or if the state actually had 683 cases of Lyme disease in one week.

It’s certainly too early to break out the champagne, but the news is encouraging.  I hope the numbers are a result of Lyme awareness and not just because of under reporting or that the disease often needs more time to incubate before symptoms are noticeable.  Let’s all be cautiously optimistic.  -Rob

 For the full article: http://www.examiner.com/x-18444-Rochester-Infectious-Disease-Examiner~y2010m7d22-Rochester-escapes-national-disease-outbreaks–so-far

~ by Rob on July 23, 2010.

Posted in Lyme
Tags: CDC, Lyme, Lyme Disease, New York