Madison Area Lyme Support Group

https://www.cdc.gov/lyme/stats/humancases.html

Fig. 1: Prepared by LDA, Jan. 2021

The CDC published, in the February edition of its “Emerging Infectious Diseases,” two new papers pertaining to Lyme disease case numbers. CDC indicates that the researchers found 476,000 people are diagnosed with and treated for Lyme disease each year in the U.S.

This is a 59% increase from their previous estimate of 300,000.

Also, CDC posted a new page to its website, Syndromic Surveillance of Emergency Department Visits for Tick Bites, showing tick bites by time, age/sex, and region:  https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/tickedvisits/

While quick to state this increased number is “likely an over-estimate of actual infections because patients are sometimes treated presumptively,” they fail to mention the other side of the equation: that many fail to be diagnosed due to abysmal testing and doctor bias.  Interestingly they state tick-borne illness is a burden on the health care system but fail to state the need to improve testing and treatment, but simply say more effective prevention measures are needed.

The new numbers are based on more recent data and insurance claims.