As warmer weather increases in Southeast Ohio, so does the risk of tick-borne diseases, making it a fitting time for Tick Bite Prevention Week, a national awareness effort to combat tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease. The awareness week was observed on the Athens campus with Stop the Bite, an educational event hosted by Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine’s Infectious and Tropical Disease Institute (ITDI) at Heritage Hall on March 25-26.
During Stop the Bite, students and Heritage College community members were invited to read a series of informational posters about clinical case studies, diagnosis and prevention strategies. Participants were then asked to complete a survey about their Lyme disease education.
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread through the bite of infected deer ticks. It can produce a wide range of symptoms, including fever, rash, irregular heartbeat and arthritis, among other issues. If left untreated, it can spread to joints, the heart or the nervous system. The prevalence of Lyme disease is growing, with a 35-fold increase in the number of cases in the state over the last 13 years. In 2024, Athens County had 19 reported cases of Lyme disease. The rate from 2014-2023 per 100,000 per year in Athens County was 2.49 cases.
Kat Marriott, Ph.D., interim director of operations for the ITDI, says that events like Stop the Bite are vital to understanding the level of awareness that medical professionals have of tick-borne diseases.
“Lyme disease is increasing in this area, and we don’t have a great idea of either the prevalence or the level of knowledge about Lyme disease,” Marriott said. “So not only is this an effort to educate the public but also to specifically look at the education of clinicians coming out into the field, so that we are better prepared to recognize, diagnose, treat and hopefully eliminate Lyme disease.”
One of the challenges in the fight against Lyme disease is the inaccurate reporting of cases. Requirements for reporting cases vary from state to state, and in Ohio, the process for reporting is somewhat “archaic and complicated,” according to Marriott, leading many health care providers to forego the process.
“Testing in humans is a multi-step process, and most clinicians don’t require completion of all the testing in order for a suspected case to become a confirmed case in the state reporting system, so it’s vastly underreported,” Marriott said. She said that often physicians will listen to a patient’s symptoms, examine the rash and treat it as Lyme disease with antibiotics. When this happens, it doesn’t get reported on the state system, leading to inaccurate numbers.
“There are some counties (in Ohio) that, according to the state system, have zero Lyme cases. But that is not true,” Marriott said. “We’re trying to start the process, to collect the data and better understand where are we at in terms of the education and elimination of Lyme disease.”
Marriott encourages all medical students and professionals to take the survey from Stop the Bite, even if they were unable to attend the event.