Health

The number of Lyme disease cases diagnosed in the Finger Lakes region jumped sharply last year, according to the most recent data from the state health department.

The data, while still preliminary, is not expected to change before it’s finalized next month. It shows Lyme disease cases increased almost 600 percent in the health department’s Finger Lakes region, from 62 in 2012 to 365 in 2017.

“Maybe the cows tip ‘em off when they’re milking them…”

That’s how comedian Jerry Seinfeld explores the question of who determines the expiration dates on milk cartons in one of his better known routines.

Faced with a distinct shortage of opioid detox beds locally, the town of Gates is partnering with three addiction treatment centers in Pennsylvania, town officials said Thursday.

Gates to Recovery, the drop-in center for people seeking treatment for addiction in the town, announced what it called “a collaborative project” that will allow Monroe County residents to be treated across state lines.

Six months after the formation of the Monroe County Heroin Task Force, law enforcement officials said the death toll from opioids is still climbing.

But officers have learned some important lessons, said task force commander Andy DeLyser.

“We’re never, ever going to arrest our way out of this problem. I don’t believe we’re ever, ever going to treat our way out of this problem,” DeLyser said.

A Pittsford psychiatrist has been charged with health care fraud after FBI investigators said he forged his medical board certification and charged insurance companies for services he did not provide, according to a complaint filed in federal court.

Prosecutors said Muhammad Cheema regularly changed the codes on patients’ office visits to indicate that he spent more time with them than he actually did, and that he billed telephone appointments as office visits.

New York Senator Kirstin Gillibrand is taking on pharmaceutical companies, in an effort to keep prescription costs low. She made a stop in Canandaigua Monday morning to talk about price gouging on many brand name medicines.

Gillbrand spoke at the Ferris Hills senior living community, saying she hears complaints about drug costs all the time from constituents, and while it’s a problem with really anyone who needs a prescription, it’s an urgent issue for many seniors, many of whom lived on a fixed income.

She says she’s working on a number of bills to battle this crisis.