The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is giving a Yale School of Medicine researcher $2.9 million to do a comprehensive survey of Lyme disease from Maine to Texas.
Epidemiologist Durland Fish will use the four-year grant to develop a detailed map of the eastern United States, depicting human risk of infection from the bacteria that cause Lyme disease.
The research also will compile information about the genetic strains of bacteria found during the time of year when the risk of contracting Lyme disease is highest.
The CDC and other health agencies will use the map to focus education and prevention efforts.
"This is the largest field study ever conducted on Lyme disease," Fish said.
The disease is caused by spiral-shaped bacteria found in deer ticks. The ticks bite people to spread the disease, which can cause fever, joint pain and various other symptoms.
The CDC said the number of cases reported annually has more than doubled since 1991. Lyme disease was first diagnosed in the 1970s in patients around the town of Lyme, Conn.
