Lyme disease likely has infected 14.5% of world population

Lyme disease has likely infected more than 14% of the global population, about 1 in 7 people.

That’s according to a new study in BMJ Global Health.

Researchers in China pooled data from 89 studies carried out between January 1984 and December 2021. They looked at the presence of blood antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi, the microbe that causes Lyme disease.

Their analysis pinpointed three regions with the highest rate of Lyme disease: central Europe (20.7 per cent), eastern Asia (15.9 per cent) and western Europe (13.5 per cent).

North America had an infection rate of just over 9 per cent.