BUFFALO N.Y. (WKBW) — Lyme Disease is a growing concern world wide especially when it comes to children. Recent pediatric research shows that more than 300,000 cases are diagnosed within a year and more than half are children.
For five years, Heather Carlson didn't know what was making her 16-year-old daughter Sydney sick.
"Not knowing what was actually wrong with her was the hardest part as a parent," Carlson said.
Sydney was experiencing vomiting, chills, even hallucinations and no one knew why. That was until Sydney and her mom drove six hours to see a Lyme Disease specialist in February.
"She has strands of Lyme come back positive," Carlson shared. "She was super excited she said 'thank you for believing me. Finally someone believes me.' It was a very long journey."
Mark Hicar is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University at Buffalo. he said cases like Sydney's are exactly why researchers at UB are working on a Lyme Disease vaccine.
"We should put a focus on having a Lyme Disease vaccine trial," he shared. "Rates of Lyme Disease has been rising fairly rapidly over the last decade and in rural areas its gone up more than 300%."
Interested in participating - click this link.
UB is conducting a vaccine study for children aging between 5 to 17
its a four shot process.
Rebecca roll is the founder of the awareness group 'Lyme Western New York.'
"We're cautiously optimistic about the trial i think one concern from the Lyme community is the amount of strains that the vaccine is going to be covering" Roll said.
She stated that Lyme Disease is a topic that hits close to home. Her husband was diagnosed with Lyme Disease 10 years ago.
"We got to the point where we didn't know if our younger daughter was going to meet her father that's how ill he was," Roll shared.
She doesn't want the vaccine to lead to a false sense of hope. Roll said this disease still deserves a lot of research.
"Its not just a wooded area problem we tell people to please protect your children," she stated.
