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Start of Lyme Disease Season Provides Heightened Risks for Americans Wanting to Go Outdoors After a Year of COVID-19 Restrictions
Quidel Corporation, the Nation’s Leading Developer of Rapid Lyme Disease Testing, Cautions Americans to be Vigilant, Take Precautions and Get Tested if in
About this update from Quidelortho Corporation
[{"type":"text","content":"\nQuidel Corporation, the Nation’s Leading Developer of Rapid Lyme Disease Testing, Cautions Americans to be Vigilant, Take Precautions and Get Tested if in Doubt\n\n SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--\nAs America slowly and hopefully extricates itself from the coronavirus pandemic, another health concern lies just around the corner: the start of Lyme disease season. To complicate matters, Lyme disease is one of the distinct underlying conditions that make those afflicted more vulnerable for coronavirus complications.\n\n“The warm weather of spring and summer makes everyone want to get outdoors and never more so than this year when so many of us have spent the past 12 months hunkered down in our own homes,” says Judi Tilghman, Ph.D., vice president of technology assessment at Quidel Corporation, the nation’s leading developer of rapid Lyme disease testing. “The key is to be smart in taking steps to avoid getting a tick bite in the first place and then getting tested immediately if you think you may have contracted Lyme.”\n\nLyme disease afflicts as many as 400,000 Americans every year and can lead to a number of serious, life-threatening problems if not caught early. The challenge is that unlike a mosquito bite where people know immediately if they have been bitten, deer ticks that may carry Lyme disease are tiny—the size of a poppy seed—and symptoms may not appear for two to six weeks. That makes it critically important that anyone who spends time outdoors in heavily wooded areas—hikers, hunters, campers—or travels to such places be particularly vigilant.\n\nSome of the basic symptoms of a Lyme infection—fever, malaise, fatigue, muscle aches and headaches—can resemble COVID-19, which, according to Dr. Tilghman, is “still another reason to get tested if you feel any of these symptoms coming on. The vast majority of patients tested are negative, so getting results quickly with Quidel’s Sofia® 2 Lyme FIA test can provide peace of mind for individuals while also allowing physicians to more rapidly pursue testing and treatment for other diseases that may be causing the patient’s symptoms.”\n\nWhile Dr. Tilghman acknowledges that a walk in the woods, a return to playing outdoor sports on grassy fields, or camping by a river or lake is an appealing way to relieve stress from the coronavirus lockdown, she warns that such activities do come w...