the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Heath Department and the New Jersey Department of Health remind you that the warm weather brings ticks and Lyme disease. May is National Lyme Disease Awareness Month, an excellent time to take precautions and learn the signs of Lyme disease. Lyme disease is an illness caused by infection with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi (boar-ELL-ee-uh burg-dorf-ERR-eye). This bacterium is carried by ticks. This infection can cause a variety of symptoms and if left untreated can be severe.
Lyme disease is spread to people by the bite of an infected tick. In New Jersey, the most commonly infected tick is the deer tick (or black-legged tick, Ixodes scapularis). Immature ticks become infected by feeding on infected white-footed mice and other small mammals, such as deer and meadow voles. Deer ticks can also spread other tick-borne diseases. Humans can be infected with more than one tick-borne disease at the same time. Lyme disease is not spread from person to person. It is not necessary to avoid someone who is ill with Lyme disease.
Continue reading Warm Weather Brings Ticks
