Tick-borne disease:

A serious and growing threat, right in your own yard.

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States - Lyme disease in particular. If you live in the northeastern part of the country, you are probably familiar with the information and warnings about ticks spreading Lyme disease. You may know of a person who has had Lyme disease or may have had it yourself. If so, you probably contracted it at home, because in the northeastern United States, people are most likely to contract Lyme disease on their own property. The odds of contracting this disease are directly related to the number of ticks on your property that carry the disease-causing bacteria.

Lyme disease is not an illness to be taken lightly. It can be difficult to diagnose, and if it goes undiagnosed and untreated, it can result in serious, permanent damage to the joints and heart of the victim. Animals can be affected, too. Dogs, cats and horses are all subject to Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease is the most frequently reported vector-borne illness in the United States, and the number of cases continues to rise. In the year 2002, state health departments received reports of 23,000 cases. It's a large number, but the total number of cases might actually be much larger. According to estimates by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nine out of ten cases go unreported or undiagnosed.