17. Speaking with Mary Beth Pfeiffer, author of Lyme: the First Epidemic of Climate Change

In today’s podcast, Sarah talks about ticks, Lyme disease and climate change with investigative reporter Mary Beth Pfeiffer. She lives in New York State, an area of the US which is highly endemic for Lyme disease, and has been investigating this disease for the past 8 years. Her search for answers revealed that there was not only a denial from the US CDC and Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) regarding what patients were telling them about Lyme disease but also a disdain for this patient population. Mary Beth describes how her own book, Lyme: the First Epidemic of Climate Change, evolved out of her interest in Lyme disease and her passion about climate change. Mary Beth describes some of the research that shows how tick populations are migrating into both higher altitudes and latitudes (northward into Canada). Read more: show notes