Lyme disease is an emerging epidemic. Some claim it is larger than AIDS, perhaps not so deadly but it can be severely debilitating. There have been reported cases of Lyme Disease in Colorado; a couple of recent cases in Carbondale. Authorities in Colorado are reluctant to say Lyme has arrived, and insurance companies do not want to pay for costly and difficult cures.

Each year, thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are “all in their head.” I stopped backpacking when it first emerged on the East Coast because there were so many reports of people with the disease. My neighbor's dog was diagnosed with the disease and two children in my immediate neighborhood. I got the vaccine as soon as it came on the market — a year later, the vaccine was taken off the market. There were unsubstantiated reports of Lyme-disease like symptoms from the vaccine which discouraged people from getting the vaccine. When I asked my students at Rutgers how many have had, or knew someone with Lyme disease, the majority raised their hands.

Lyme disease first appeared in the East Coast. An unusual number of children in the town of Lyme, Conn., were suffering from arthritis-like symptoms. The lawyer/author Michael Carroll in his book “Lab 257” claims is there is a good possibility it escaped from a germ disease lab on Plum Island in Long Island Sound. The island is a flyway for migrating birds, and several scientists from the lab lived in Connecticut and took the ferry from the lab back and forth to Connecticut.

The disease is passed from animals to humans, the accidental host, by small immature ticks which are often hard to find on your body. The ticks are the “vectors,” and they pass the disease from one host to another. Those bitten by ticks and get a bulls-eye rash are pretty certain to have been infected with Lyme disease, but some people do not get (or do not notice) the rash. The Lyme disease bacteria is an unusual one that spreads around the body, lodging in joints, in the heart, and can even get into the nervous system and the brain. The bacteria are hard to detect and components of the bacteria can cause an inflammatory reaction. If caught early, the disease is treatable by antibiotics, but latter stages of the disease are difficult to treat and relapses are not uncommon.

I recently came across research that indicated that 90 percent of children who suffer from autism are also suffering from Lyme Disease. They do not claim that Lyme Disease is the cause of all autism, but it is a good indication that it does play a very significant role. It is believed that Lyme Disease attacks the immune system, making small children very susceptible to the effects of heavy metals and various environmental factors. There is enough research to link autism and Lyme Disease that the Lyme Induced Autism Foundation was established in 2006.

Lyme Disease can be debilitating physically, emotionally and financially and is especially challenging for the medical community. It is very difficult to control because ticks are a common pest, and their animal hosts which transmit the bacteria to the tick can be many different warm blooded animals — from deer to mice to birds. Birds migrate long distances, and are responsible the disease spreading across the country. There is a movie “Under Our Skin” which is a red flag for the health-care providers and the public. This film is currently showing on the East and West coasts and can probably be rented at a library or ordered online.

Breckenridge resident Dr. Joanne Stolen is retired from Rutgers University where she taught microbiology. Her scientific interests are in emerging infectious

diseases and environmental pollution.

She teaches microbiology at CMC.