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Ride for Lyme cyclists in Kelowna Friday

Cycling to raise awareness of Lyme disease, riders are expected to be at Mission Creek Park at 9:45 a.m. May 15.

On May 11th the Ride For Lyme kicked off in Victoria and is coming through Kelowna May 15.

May is Lyme awareness month globally.  In Canada this month many cities have declared May as Lyme awareness month.

Also this month, Canadian landmarks have gone or are going green for Lyme awareness including Victoria City Hall, Calgary Tower, Langevin Bridge Calgary, High Level Bridge Edmonton,Winnipeg City Hall, CN Tower Toronto, Niagara Falls, Peach Arch Bridge, Halifax City Hall and others.

In August 2013, the United States Center for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed what patient groups have been saying for decades: That Lyme disease is grossly under-reported.

The CDC issued a press release on August 19 that year indicating they have been making a mistake by reporting only 30,000 cases per year (an already high number). The actual number of cases should be around 300,000 cases per year, a 10-fold increase meaning that 270,000 people every year were going undiagnosed or being misdiagnosed with everything but Lyme.

Per capita Canada has a similar situation. Poor testing and misleading information from governments has been a major cause of under-reporting.

Cyclists are riding across Canada to raise awareness for Lyme disease and tomorrow (Friday May 15) they will come through Kelowna arriving at the Mission Creek Park at about 9:45 a.m.

Get out to see the crew and learn more about Lyme disease.