We know two people who have gotten lymes disease so far this year. Will and Val's kids had take home xeroxed games and puzzles on their last day of school that featured ticks and facts about Lyme disease. This year, Columbia County gained the distinction of having the highest lymes disease rate in the country.

Our animals' vet here has a holistic practice and publishes a newsletter. I've gotten it twice so far and both times it has had articles about ticks and lymes disease. An interesting quote:

The actual signs of lymes disease are created by an "overzealous" immune response to the organism. One might question the logic of a vaccine stimulating the immune system to prevent a disease that is created by an "overzealous" response.

A study done in Connecticut...reported that 95% had been exposed to the organism. When they went back and looked at how many of these dogs had been sick with symptoms of the disease and treated for lymes that number was only about 5%!... The question that should be asked is "what is wrong with the 5% of dogs that get sick from the organism wheras most dogs show natural exposure and no disease?"

I can't help but wonder if the same thing should be asked about people. Are some people exposed to the virus and don't get the disease? I know that lymes tests have a high false positive rate.

And another thing: I think that if I was from Lyme Connecticut, I wouldn't be too happy about having this disease named after my town. That's got to suck.