Lyme in the South

About the Event

Lyme disease has been assumed to only be endemic to the northern regions of the United States, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Lyme disease is everywhere and is consistently overlooked in many places around the country. One region where it is prevalent but ignored is the Southern states, which include Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas, to name a few. This webinar digs into research that outlines the existence of ticks and tick-borne diseases in these areas. Project Lyme will speak with experts who live and work in the South and can speak from their own experiences. The event will also overview the political and social problems patients who live here have faced.

About the Guests

Dr. Kerry Clark is an epidemiologist and professor at the University of North Florida. Dr. Clark has studied Lyme disease and other tick-borne diseases in the southeastern United States for the past 20 years. His studies have involved ecological investigations of Lyme Borrelia in vertebrates and ticks, as well as studies of tickborne infections in humans. Much of his work in the past decade has been focused on developing improved molecular detection methods for Lyme Borrelia and other tickborne disease agents. He was the first to identify Lyme disease bacteria in naturally infected lizards in both Florida and South Carolina. He also was the first to identify Borrelia Americana and Borrelia andersonii infections in human Lyme patients in the USA. His work is demonstrating that Lyme disease is much more common in the southern U.S. than previously thought and that Lyme disease in the U.S. is associated with multiple species of Lyme Borrelia.

Dr. Shirley Hartman is the owner-operator of Mandarin Wellness Center based in Jacksonville, Florida. In 1987, she established her own practice utilizing nutritional therapy, acupuncture, and holistic medicine. Over the years, she developed experience treating people with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and chronic pain. When she learned of Dr. Clark’s research, she began sending him samples from her patients to test. An amazing percentage of people with several symptoms within the spectra of pain, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and neurologic disorders (multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, manic-depressive, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s, etc.) showed evidence of tick-borne illnesses.

About the Sponsors

Project Lyme

Our mission is to eradicate the epidemic of tick-borne diseases through awareness and education, support of cutting-edge science, and advocacy for solutions to end the suffering. As a national Lyme disease non-profit, we aim to make a positive impact on the lives of patients through our work.