Wood ticks are common on the Cape. But deer ticks that carry Lyme disease are much smaller, the size of a freckle.
HYANNIS – Experts say Lyme disease continues to be a growing danger away from the usual hot spots.
U.S. cases remain concentrated in the Northeast and upper Midwest.
The Cape and Islands have some of the highest incidences of Lyme disease in the nation.
A new report shows 260 counties where the risk of catching Lyme disease from tick bites is at least twice the national average. That’s up from 130 a decade earlier.
Lyme disease is most common in wooded suburban and far suburban counties.
Scientists aren’t sure why high-risk areas are expanding, but it likely has something to do with development and other changes that cause the mice, deer and ticks that carry the bacteria to move.
The article was published online Wednesday in a Journal, Emerging Infectious Diseases.
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