Sharp Increase Seen in Lyme Disease Cases in 2022 After Revised Definition

THURSDAY, Feb. 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- In 2022, there was an increase in the number of reported Lyme disease cases following implementation of a revised surveillance case definition, according to research published in the Feb. 15 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Noting that after implementation of a revised surveillance case definition in 2022, high-incidence jurisdictions could report Lyme disease cases based on laboratory evidence alone without additional clinical information, Kiersten J. Kugeler, Ph.D., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues summarized the first year of Lyme disease surveillance data collected using the 2022 case definition and compared these data to cases reported during 2017 to 2019.

The researchers found that 62,551 Lyme disease cases were reported to the CDC in 2022, which was 1.7 times the annual average of 37,118 cases reported in 2017 to 2019. Older age groups had the highest increase in annual incidence, with incidence approximately doubling for adults aged 65 years and older compared with 2017 to 2019.

"The 69 percent increase in reported cases of Lyme disease after implementation of the 2022 surveillance case definition, with the largest relative increase occurring among older adults, likely reflects modification of surveillance methods in high-incidence jurisdictions rather than a true change in disease risk," the authors write.

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