In 1985 it was predicted that a 6.0 or more earthquake would occur in the Parkfield area within four years of 1988. Mitchell Freedman A Boston study of 800 patients referred to a Lyme disease clinic showed that 45 percent of the patients did not have Lyme disease but tested positive suggesting that the current blood testis not useful for screening purposes. Lyme disease has been reported in every state except Alaska and Montana with 50,000 cases reported since 1982. Shelter Island in Long Island has been the place of highest exposure for Lyme disease. In about 60 percent of the cases of Lyme disease a bull's eye rash develops after a bite from an infected deer tick.
Additional symptoms are heartbeat irregularities and swollen joints.
Lyme disease is treatable with antibiotics once detected but can cause more serious problems in untreated. Federal officials are providing increased funds for research on Lyme disease. A new program called MEDWatch has been introduced to make it easy for physicians to report serious side effects or defects in a broad range of medications and devices. Current clinical trials are well designed but an event that occurs only once in 5,000 patients can be missed. This program replaces an older system that was notoriously difficult to use.