County's health profile shows an increase in Lyme disease

Chambersburg Public Opinion - Chambersburg,PA,USA
In the handful of years since Doug Mitchell was diagnosed with Lyme disease, he has become a self-styled expert on the painful and weakening affliction.

One of his observations: The disease is a crafty mimic, often resembling more common ailments, such as arthritis or the flu.

With this knowledge often comes a diagnosis change, he said.
Mitchell knows the enemy, and when he heard the reported cases of Lyme disease in Franklin County had spiked in recent years, he did not raise an eyebrow.

"That doesn't surprise me at all," the Fort Loudon resident said. "It's underestimated. Across the country, more people are getting diagnosed because they never even knew they had it. Doctors have been fooled enough times."

Mitchell estimates he's lost roughly 75% of his former strength to the disease, and he will have to take high-grade antibiotics the rest of his life to keep it in check.

The state Department of Health recently released its 2005 health profiles for all 67 counties and the state as a whole.

Each year's profile is composed of information collected from previous years.

Lyme disease is one of several increases that stand out from the 2004 Franklin County profile.

The information for this year's profile on Lyme disease was collected from 2001 to 2003, and lists 42 cases.

Data from last year's profile were collected from 2000 to 2002, and list 29 Lyme diseases cases.

One possibility for this might be the area's lack of cold winters in recent years, which would have killed more deer ticks, which carry the disease, Mitchell said.

Also increasing in this profile are reported cases of the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia — 656 were reported between 2000 and 2002, while 745 cases were reported between 2001 to 2003.

Reported drug and alcohol cases flip-flopped. From mid-2003 to mid-2004, 180 drug abuse cases and 123 alcohol abuse cases were reported.

From mid-2002 to mid-2003, 138 drug abuse cases and 166 alcohol abuse cases were reported.

Licensed or approved beds in area nursing homes took a sharp decrease. In 2002, beds numbered nearly 1,400, but in 2003 this dropped to 1,237.

Between these years, one transitional care unit in Chambersburg closed, taking away 18 beds, and some facilities lowered their capacity. Quincy United Methodist Home decreased from 195 to 169 beds, and South Mountain Restoration Center shrunk from 376 to 260 beds.

Other numbers stayed mostly the same.

Deaths from diabetes mellitus totaled 170 from 2000 to 2002, and 173 from 2001 to 2003.

From 2000 to 2002, heart disease contributed to 1,038 deaths, and from 2001 to 2003 it took 1,050 lives.

Cancer deaths totaled 935 from 2000 to 2002, and 908 from 2001 to 2003.

These last two life-takers were the biggest killers in the county respectively, the same rank they held in the 2004 profile.

But the county is no anomaly, and heart disease and cancer can be found claiming lives across the nation, said Jan Crudden, executive director of Healthy Communities Partnership of Greater Franklin County, a group that promotes health and wellness.

Modern health care has changed from fighting diseases such as cholera to dealing with the damage people can do to themselves through choices, including smoking cigarettes, she said.

"It's a realization that people are impacted by their behavior, and then modifying that behavior," she said.