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Connecticut Finds More Ticks With Lyme Disease

More ticks tested positive for Lyme disease in Connecticut in 2015, and more ticks tested were infected with more than one disease, state officials reported last week.

Connecticut officials found more Lyme disease and other diseases in ticks last year.

Connecticut officials found more Lyme disease and other diseases in ticks last year.

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons

The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station reported that 31 percent of black-legged ticks tested positive for one of the Lyme disease strands. That is an increase over the average 26 percent they've found in 2010 through 2014, officials said.

Also, last year, state officials started testing for two other tick-related diseases, Babesia microti and Anaplasma phagocytophilum. The percentage of ticks found to carry each disease was 11 percent and nearly 5 percent, respectively.

The laboratory tests about 3,000 ticks each year. Officials said they also found 40 percent of ticks were infested with more than one disease strain.

"The tick testing results highlight the growing risk of existing and emerging human infection with at least one pathogen capable of causing debilitating human illness," said Dr. Theodore Andreadis, director of the testing station.

For more details, or a breakdown by county of ticks tested, visit the CAES website.

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