CNN —An especially bad tick season in the United States is probably hitting its peak, and experts are stressing the importance of taking personal precautions to protect against rising cases of tick-borne disease. Cases of the tick-borne disease – which can cause fever, muscle and joint pain and headache, and which can be fatal – grew 25% from 2011 to 2019. A variety of factors are raising the risk for tick-borne disease, experts say. The deer tick is spreading to the north and west, farther into the Northeast and Midwest. Increased awareness of tick-borne disease could also account for some of the rise in Lyme diagnoses, but experts encourage both doctors and patients to pay close attention to their symptoms.

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Persons: ”, Emily Mader, Lyme, Robert Smith, ” Mader, –, ATtrY7YFoS, “ It’s, it’s, ” Smith, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, Northeast Regional Center, Excellence, US Centers for Disease Control, CDC, The, Star, Tufts University, — CDC, Get CNN, CNN Health Locations: United States, athenahealth, Lyme, Midwest, Pacific Coast