Lyme Disease Charts and Figures: Historical Data

Related Pages

While reported cases of Lyme disease can occur year-round, May, June, July, and August are the peak months for being diagnosed with Lyme disease, with June and July being the peak months. April, September, October, and November have far fewer cases than the summer months, but December, January, February, and March have the fewest cases of reported Lyme disase.

Lyme disease—Confirmed cases by month of disease onset, United States, 2008-2017
 Month of disease onset Cases
 January  4,478
February 3,910
March 5,105
April 7,739
May 19,206
June 61,069
July 62,519
August 25,443
September 13,989
October 12,335
November 7,493
December 4,259

Lyme disease confirmed cases by age and sex United States, 2001-2019

Lyme disease—Confirmed cases by age and sex—United States, 2001-2017
 Age Group Male Female
0-4 10,611 9,555
5-9 25,287 17,199
10-14 23,384 12,213
15-19 15,675 8,269
20-24 10,290 6,470
25-29 9,293 6,453
30-34 10,275 7,972
35-39 12,388 9,994
40-44 14,929 12,080
45-49 17,763 14,325
50-54 19,606 16,815
55-59 19,125 16,959
60-64 16,669 14,824
65-69 13,855 12,578
70-74 9,982 9,520
75-79 6,675 6,821
80-84 3,628 3,877
85-89 1,495 1,746
90+ 443 568

From 2008-2019 of the 311,561 reported confirmed cases of Lyme disease; 70% of patients had an erythema migrans rash; 29% had arthritis symptoms; 9% had facial palsy; 4% had radiculoneuropathy; 2% had meningitis or encephalitis; and 1% had cardiitis.

*Data on signs/symptoms available for only 62% of 311,561 confirmed cases. Due to the way surveillance data is collected, patients with severe symptoms or later manifestations may be more likely be included in the above figure, and percentages presented may be higher than what is typically seen in a “real world” setting.

 

Lyme Disease reported cases of by year, United States, 1998-2019

Lyme Disease—Reported cases of by year, United States, 1997-2017
Year Confirmed Cases Probable Cases
1996 16,455 —
1997 12,801 —
1998 16,802 —
1999 16,273 —
2000 17,730 —
2001 17,029 —
2002 23,763 —
2003 21,273 —
2004 19,804 —
2005 23,305 —
2006 19,931 —
2007 27,444 —
2008 28,921 6,277
2009 29,959 8,509
2010 22,561 7,597
2011 24,364 8,733
2012 22,014 8,817
2013 27,203 9,104
2014 25,359 8,102
2015 28,453 9,616
2016 26,203 10,226
2017 29,513 13,230
2018 23,558 10,108
2019 23,453 11,492

*National Surveillance case definition revised in 2008 to include probable cases.

Page last reviewed: May 3, 2021
Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD)