"With ticks spreading out across the country, the CDC says there may be nearly half a million cases of Lyme every year".
"Between 2010 and 2018, the U.S. had approximately 476,000 cases of Lyme disease every year, according to a study out today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
That number is substantially higher than the CDC’s previous estimates, of about 300,000 annual Lyme cases, which was based on research from 2010 and earlier that looked at insurance claims and lab test results. The new study used more current information from a large database of commercial insurance claims.
Despite the large jump, study author Kiersten Kugeler, Ph.D., an epidemiologist with the CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases, says the growing number of Lyme disease cases isn’t surprising."
Catherine Roberts reports for Consumer Reports January 13, 2021.
