Oooh! A muffin! I love muffins. **reads caption**
"Ticks can be the size of a poppy seed. Can you spot all 5 ticks in this photo?"
**slowly dawning terror**
This is the picture the Center for Disease Control posted in an effort to warn Americans of tick-borne infections such as Lyme disease that the agency said are on the rise.
May begins the three-month span during which more people will get tick bites than any other in the United States, according to the CDC, and a 2016 study found ticks that carry Lyme disease present in nearly half of all U.S. counties.
While some 30,000 cases of Lyme disease get reported annually, the CDC suggests the actual number of diagnosed cases may be ten times that — about 300,000.
If not treated, Lyme disease can produce severe arthritis or cause neurological or cardiac problems.
So don't forget to check your body (and your muffins) for ticks!!