Related to the Lyme Disease thread, and tempting me to entitle this post My Deadly Disease Has A Tail-Wagging Proxy, I ran across a recent study comparing incidence of the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, one of the sources of Lyme Disease, as found in dogs against actual reports of Lyme Disease in the United States. Here’s the two maps, respectively, taken from “Quantifying the relationship between human Lyme disease and Borreliaburgdorferiexposure in domestic dogs,” Yan Lui, Geospatial Health 2019:
Given that dogs but not humans are screened for Lyme Disease on a yearly basis, this is an interesting way of determining when Lyme Disease, or the ticks that carry it, are moving into a new area. And, if you’re a little nervous about needles, get yourself a dog and make monthly visits to the vet with your walking pin cushion.
