Lyme Under Study

More than thirty, less than ten thousand. The precise number of people living on the Vineyard who have contracted Lyme disease is unknown, but it is certain that the number is higher than the thirty cases of Lyme disease here recorded by the Centers for Disease Control last year. Far higher.

A bacterial illness transmitted by the deer tick whose hosts include white-tailed deer and field mice, Lyme disease is known to be widespread on the Island. This fact was first recorded by the Health Report of Martha’s Vineyard, a landmark profile of the health of the adult population on the Vineyard led by a physician and researcher at Johns Hopkins University some ten years ago.

While there are few hard numbers, troubling reports have begun to surface of people suffering from late-stage Lyme, which can be devastating. A support group has been formed and Vineyard doctors and other health care professionals are working to address the problem. Early treatment with antibiotics is the most effective cure for Lyme. Left untreated it can cause debilitating arthritis, Bell’s palsy, memory loss and a host of neurological problems. More study is clearly needed to understand these problems and develop safe, effective treatments for them.

Thankfully a comprehensive study of tick-borne illness is now under way, led by the Island boards of health and paid for with a five-year grant from the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital community fund. Early results from the study, which is nearing the end of its first year, were released in a presentation at the regional high school last week by a group of medical students from the University of Massachusetts Rural Scholars Program.

The study presents a vital opportunity for the Vineyard to become better educated about all aspects of Lyme disease from cause to prevention to treatment. Because the disease is fickle with a wide variety of symptoms that are sometimes the same symptoms presented by other illnesses, it can be misdiagnosed. Innovative ideas for prevention and treatment are already on the table based on early information compiled by researchers, and we look forward to hearing more as the study progresses.

It has been said that the Vineyard, a living laboratory for tick-borne illness, could be a perfect place to establish a clinic for the treatment of Lyme disease. That may well be true. But first a baseline of information is needed, and that is exactly what the Lyme disease study intends to create. We applaud the boards of health for taking deliberate, meaningful steps that will hopefully lead to better education and public health in the Island community.