HOUSTON — Lyme disease is not an illness people living in Texas often think about but ticks that transmit the disease are spreading fast.
Vector-borne illnesses are spread by mosquitoes, ticks and fleas. The bugs carry more than just Lyme Disease.
Dr. Peter Hotez, dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said anyone who is outside will more than likely be exposed to one of these bugs.
The most common vector-borne illness in the US is Lyme disease which is spread by ticks.
“Texas turns out to be kind of an epicenter of tropical diseases in the U.S.,” Dr. Hotez said.
Dr. Hotez also said there’s other diseases people should be aware of too.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates more than 640,000 vector-borne cases were reported between 2004 and 2016.
“We’re still trying to get our arms around why we’re seeing this generalized increase but it’s really concerning.” Dr. Hotez said.
According to the CDC, 95 percent of all Lyme disease cases are found in 14 states in New England and upper Midwest.
Texas is not on that list but anywhere from 50 and 275 cases were reported every year between 2000 and 2016.
Dr. Hotez said that is not the only insect-spread disease people should worry about.
“I’m very concerned about Typhus,” Dr. Hotez said. “I’m concerned about Chagas’ disease transmitted by kissing bugs and we have another tick-borne disease called Relapsing Fever, so I would kind of put Lyme disease somewhere on that list but not necessarily at the top of the list.”
He recommends wearing long sleeve shirts and pants whenever outdoors.
Also, applying Deet on a regular basis and checking pets every day especially after being outdoors.