With Lyme Disease on the Rise Nationwide, Quidel Corporation Urges Early Testing With Its Rapid Point-of-Care Test

As America approaches the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic, a quiet epidemic has emerged that has the potential to affect as many as 476,000 citizens before the year is out. The epidemic is Lyme disease, which is being identified in record numbers throughout the country.*

Researchers at such institutions as Johns Hopkins, Colorado State University and SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse are all reporting an increased spread of Lyme disease. And they are finding it not only in the woodlands of New England and other forested regions as typically expected but in frightening and unexpected numbers on the beaches in Northern California, throughout the southwest and southeast and other parts of the country where reported cases are on the rise.

One suspected reason for the uptick is the pandemic itself, which drove people to spend more time walking outdoors and now, with restrictions being lifted, are seeing these people hitting the road for open-air destinations throughout the country. To complicate matters, this past winter was one of the warmest on record; and lingering summer heat added weeks of outdoor activity to animals that carry ticks and which thrive in hot, humid conditions. Pests.org, which produces an annual 2021 Tick Forecast, projects that “most states will experience the warmer, wetter conditions that drive tick populations—and the prospect of tick-borne diseases—skyward.”

As the prevalence and fear of Lyme disease intensifies, one thing that all experts agree on is the need for testing immediately if there are signs that someone may have contracted Lyme disease. These signs may include fever, headache, fatigue, joint pain, weakness in the limbs and often a characteristic skin rash with a bull's-eye pattern.

For accurate and fast testing, more and more clinicians are turning to the Sofia 2 Lyme FIA by Quidel. This revolutionary test provides the patient and physician with indicative results within 15 minutes, as opposed to days, which has historically been the norm (and during which time organisms can spread and become systemic). It can be performed in the privacy of a doctor’s office, local clinic or even by a nurse at a children’s summer camp; and it is the only test that can get results from a simple finger prick of blood.