Lyme Disease Charts and Figures: Historical Data

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Lyme disease—Confirmed cases by month of disease onset, United States, 2001-2017

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  3,701
February 3,241
March 4,291
April 6,636
May 16,334
June 53,108
July 54,404
August 21,670
September 11,741
October 10,196
November 6,394
December 3,590

Lyme disease—Confirmed cases by age and sex—United States, 2001-2017

Lyme disease confirmed cases by age and sex United States, 2001-2017

Lyme disease—Confirmed cases by age and sex—United States, 2001-2017
 Age Group Male Female
0-4 9,623 8,704
5-9 22,798 15,573
10-14 21,252 11,104
15-19 14,355 7,565
20-24 9,349 5,852
25-29 8,235 5,800
30-34 9,118 7,228
35-39 11,110 9,181
40-44 13,660 11,251
45-49 16,290 13,265
50-54 17,787 15,407
55-59 16,737 15,157
60-64 14,337 12,952
65-69 11,673 10,752
70-74 8,312 8,097
75-79 5,574 5,772
80-84 3,061 3,343
85-89 1,252 1,490
90+ 362 468

Lyme disease—Relative frequency of clinical features among confirmed cases-United States, 2008-2017

From 2008-2017 of the 235,037 reported confirmed cases of Lyme disease; 71% of patients had an erythema migrans rash; 28% had arthritis symptoms; 9% had facial palsy; 4% had radiculoneuropathy; 2% had meningitis or encephalitis; and 1% had cardiitis.

*Data on symptoms available for only 61% of 235,037 confirmed cases.  Due to the way surveillance data is collected, patients with severe symptoms or later manifestations may be more likely to 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* by year, United States, 1997-2017

 

Lyme Disease reported cases of by year, United States, 1996-2016

Lyme Disease—Reported cases of by year, United States, 1997-2017
Year Confirmed Cases Probable Cases
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

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

Page last reviewed: December 21, 2018
Content source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID), Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD)