The Lyme Action Network and SUNY Adirondack will present award-winning investigative journalist and author Mary Beth Pfeiffer on Tuesday, April 3, 2018 in Scoville Hall on the campus of SUNY Adirondack. Pfeiffer will introduce her new book, Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change, the result of Pfeiffer’s in-depth investigation of Lyme disease and the many contributing forces that have made it the confounding problem we now face. The talk will begin at 7:00pm. A book-signing will precede the talk from 6:00 – 7:00pm.

Lyme: The First Epidemic of Climate Change, documents the human contribution to the dangerous spread of Lyme disease throughout dozens of countries and multitudes of people. In a book based firmly in science, drawing from over 300 peer reviewed articles and dozens of expert interviews, Pfeiffer shows ticks climbing mountains and crossing borders as temperatures rise and ecosystems alter. As important, she challenges medical dogma that has underestimated the danger of this growing menace, leaving many untreated. Lyme is an impeccably researched account of an enigmatic disease, drawing from over 300 peer-reviewed articles and dozens of expert interviews. Pfeiffer makes a powerful case for action to combat ticks, address patient pain, and recognize humanity’s role in creating an epidemic.

Jane Goodall, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & U.N. Messenger of Peace: “This book throws new light on one more danger caused by climate change. Pfeiffer points out the importance not only of combating ticks, but also the need for doctors to respond quickly and provide appropriate treatment. A start warning the Lyme is but the tip of the iceberg.”

Garth D. Ehrlich, Drexel University College of Medicine – “Pfeiffer’s book is a superbly written piece of investigative reporting… Pfeiffer deftly weaves together the story of two modern scourges, clearly demonstrating the myriad links between mankind’s destruction of the environment and the epidemic spread of this insidious tick-borne infectious disease that slowly robs patients of their livelihoods and their lives. The reality of the current epidemic is made all the more terrible by her exposition of the politicization of the healthcare system by a small, influential group of out-of-touch physicians who by their actions are vastly increasing the suffering of the afflicted by preventing needed research, and attacking their fellow physicians who are doing their best to attend to a desperate patient population.”

The event is free and open to the public.