Expert: County has high rate of Lyme Disease
Out of the 336,000 people nationally who are diagnosed a year with a tick-borne illness, one-third of them come from Pennsylvania — and Butler County has one of the highest infection rates in the state.
Karen Ruberto, medical referral coordinator for the PA Lyme Resource Network, shared those facts Tuesday at the Butler Area Public Library, 218 N. McKean St., during a program to learn about diseases spread by ticks. Spring season is when nymphs, which are most likely to spread diseases, are most common, she said.
"May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month for a reason," Ruberto said. “This time of year is very dangerous because those nymphs are tiny, tiny, tiny little ticks.”
The talk was planned in collaboration with the Jean B. Purvis Community Health Center, 103 Bonnie Drive. Iona Balt, a LPN with the community health center, said she, too, was a victim of tick-borne disease as a child.
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