Also known as Lyme borreliosis, the Lyme disease rash is a very serious condition caused by a tick bite that could lead up to varying difficult symptoms such as fever, headache, exhaustion, loss of the ability to move parts of the face, neck stiffness, heart palpitations and joint pains.
Recently, it first came out that Ashley Olsen, one of the Olsen twins along with Mary-Kate, had been battling with Lyme disease rash for the past few years and the condition had gotten more serious as time went on; while her condition has been neither confirmed nor denied by Ashley or any members of her family, the possibility has gotten the illness a lot more publicity in the past few days.
According to Medical Daily, there's a possibility that Lyme disease rash is now happening more often due to climate change, as ticks proliferate further in the world (and particularly the US) due to warmer climate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have reported about 20,000 to 30,000 cases of Lyme disease rash annually for the past ten years, though warning that this is likely a large underestimation of the actual census of the disease, which is mostly caused by bacterium Borrelia.
However, CTV reports that the first-ever Maritime tick conference took place last weekend in Moncton, Canada, bringing together experts and patients suffering from Lyme disease rash, and it seems like the tick population is currently rising to record levels in the Canadian region.
"The number of ticks is increasing, the proportion of infected ticks is increasing," said Dr. Lloyd, a biology professor from the Mount Allison University. "Mostly the ticks are feeding from wildlife but they will feed from cats, dogs and people when they can."
The Wall Street Journal reports that, unfortunately, more than half Americans do nothing to protect themselves from the possibility of a tick bite, not knowing the effects it could have on health.
In the meantime, gossip news outlets report further about the possibility of Ashley Olsen battling Lyme disease rash.