DETECTING SITES AT RISK OF BECOMING FOCI OF LYME DISEASE

ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT METHODS TO PREVENT AND CONTROL TICK-BORNE PARASITIC INFECTIONS SUCH AS LYME DISEASE IS TO UNDERSTAND THE MECHANISMS BY WHICH FOCI OF THE DISEASE DEVELOP. ONCE THAT IS DONE, WE CAN ATTEMPT TO MANAGE THE PROBLEM. LYME DISEASE IS THE MOST PREVALENT TICK-BORNE DISEASE AMONG HUMANS IN THE U. S. AND THE INCIDENCE OF LYME DISEASE HAS INCREASED BY ONE ORDER OF MAGNITUDE WITHIN THE LAST DECADE. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO (1) DEVELOP A COMPUTER-BASED PLATFORM FOR USERS TO CONSTRUCT SET-BASED QUALITATIVE MODELS AND. (2) CUSTOMIZE THIS PROGRAM TO ANALYZE DATA IN ORDER TO DETECT AREAS AT RISK FOR BECOMING FOCI FOR LYME DISEASE. THIS COMPUTER PROGRAM, LYMESITE, WILL BE A NOVEL TOOL FOR ANALYZING BOTH QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION TO DEVELOP A MORE PRECISE PICTURE OF THE FACTORS WHICH PERMIT FOCI OF LYME DISEASE TO DEVELOP.