Lyme Disease and Climate Change: A Growing Crisis
The climate crisis isn’t just about melting glaciers and rising sea levels—it’s reshaping the very ecosystems we live in, fueling a silent but growing epidemic: Lyme disease. As global temperatures rise, so do the populations of disease-carrying ticks, spreading Lyme disease to new regions and leaving more people vulnerable. This isn’t just a medical issue—it’s an environmental wake-up call.
At the heart of this fight are individuals like Lindsay Keys, co-director of the award-winning documentary The Quiet Epidemic. Through her own harrowing experience with Lyme disease and her advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill, Lindsay has shed light on how this disease intersects with climate change, public health policy, and medical injustice.
So, what exactly is going on? Why is Lyme disease spreading so rapidly, and what can we do about it? Let’s dive in.
A Hidden Epidemic: What You Need to Know About Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It’s commonly spread by the black-legged tick (also known as the deer tick), and its symptoms can range from mild flu-like aches to devastating neurological and autoimmune disorders.
But here’s what most people don’t realize: Lyme disease is one of the most misdiagnosed and controversial illnesses of our time.
Lyme disease is still under-researched, poorly understood, and often dismissed by mainstream medicine. This lack of awareness has left thousands of patients battling for proper diagnosis and treatment.
“We wanted to understand why it was so challenging to get a diagnosis for a disease that impacts more people annually than HIV and breast cancer combined”
And now, climate change is making things even worse.
How Climate Change is Fueling the Spread of Lyme Disease
Award-winning investigative journalist Mary Beth Pfeiffer, author of Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change, has spent years uncovering the link between rising temperatures and tick-borne diseases. Here’s what the science tells us:
🌡 Warmer winters mean ticks survive year-round. Traditionally, cold winters helped kill off tick populations. But as temperatures rise, more ticks are surviving and reproducing at higher rates.
📍 Ticks are spreading to new areas. Previously rare in northern regions, Lyme disease is now surging in places like Canada and parts of the Midwest and Pacific Northwest.
🦌 Changing ecosystems are increasing human exposure. As forests shrink and wildlife migrates, ticks are hitching rides on birds, deer, and rodents, bringing disease to urban and suburban areas.
A single tick can lay thousands of eggs. With ideal climate conditions, their numbers can explode—meaning more risk, more disease, and more people left fighting for answers.
Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash
The Human Cost: A Story of Misdiagnosis, Controversy, and Hope
Lindsay Keys, like so many others, never expected Lyme disease to turn her life upside down.
“I thought Lyme was easily treatable,” she recalls. “Then I got sick myself. The standard antibiotics didn’t work. By age 26, I had symptoms that mirrored dementia, schizophrenia, and multiple sclerosis.”
Frustrated by the medical system’s failures, Lindsay co-directed The Quiet Epidemic with Winslow Crane-Murdoch—a powerful documentary that exposes the truth behind Lyme disease.
💡 Key facts from the film:
🔹 Lyme disease can attack the heart, brain, and nervous system.
🔹 The bacteria can persist in the body, even after antibiotic treatment.
🔹 Misdiagnosis is common—many Lyme patients are mistakenly diagnosed with MS, ALS, Alzheimer’s, and psychiatric disorders.
Doctors like Dr. Monica Embers of Tulane University have found that the Lyme bacteria can evade antibiotics and cause chronic infections—yet mainstream medicine still refuses to fully acknowledge “chronic Lyme disease” as a real condition.
The lack of proper diagnostics, treatment options, and physician education has led to a silent health crisis, leaving thousands of patients to fend for themselves.
What Can You Do? Action Steps for Awareness & Prevention
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed—but knowledge is power. Here’s how you can protect yourself and be part of the solution:
✅ Be Tick Smart:
Wear light-colored clothing outdoors.
Use tick repellent (natural or DEET-based).
Do regular tick checks—especially on kids and pets.
If you find a tick, send it in for testing and monitor for symptoms.
✅ Advocate for Change:
Support organizations funding research and treatment:
LymeLight Foundation (provides treatment grants for children).
Global Lyme Alliance, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, and Project Lyme (leading research initiatives).
Push for better diagnostics, insurance coverage, and physician education.
✅ Watch & Share The Quiet Epidemic
You can stream the film on Amazon Prime and Apple TV/iTunes, or visit www.thequietepidemic.com to learn more.
As Lindsay puts it, “You don’t get it until you get it.” But by spreading awareness, we can make sure more people never have to “get it” in the first place.
Turning Awareness Into Action: Join the Movement
Climate change isn’t just an environmental issue—it’s a human issue. And Lyme disease is one of its most urgent health crises.
If you’re passionate about creating a better future—one built on awareness, resilience, and radical hope—you’re in the right place.
Inside the Climate Optimist Course, we dive deeper into how climate change impacts public health, the environment, and the solutions that empower us to take action.
✨ Learn how to become part of the change.
✨ Turn overwhelm into action.
✨ Join a community of people who care.
📌 Ready to step into your power? Click here to explore the Climate Optimist Course.
Because hope isn’t passive—it’s a choice. And together, we can build a world where both people and the planet thrive. 🌿💚
