Science / Medicine : Lyme Disease Spreading

Lyme disease is spreading far and fast, with about 1,000 new cases reported each year in Connecticut alone, said a doctor who organized a recent conference on the flu-like disease.

Discovered about 10 years ago in Lyme, Conn., the disease has spread across the country, said Dr. John A. Hardin of the Yale University School of Medicine.

He said the disease is still misdiagnosed on a regular basis, making treatment more difficult when it is finally pinpointed.

Cases now have been reported in more than half the continental United States, with concentrations in Maryland, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and California.

Doctors in those areas are not familiar with the disease, which is carried by a small deer tick, so it is more difficult for them to make an accurate diagnosis, Hardin said.

The disease is relatively easy to treat with antibiotics in it early stages, but if left untreated, can cause paralysis and arthritis, which can be more difficult to treat.