Reported Lyme disease cases in the U.S. rose nearly 70% in 2022. The CDC says it’s not because of a large increase of new infections, but rather because of a change in reporting requirements.

According to the CDC, there were more than 62,000 reported cases in 2022. This was up from about 37,000 a year from 2017 through 2019.

Although the CDC estimates that about half a million people get Lyme disease in the US every year, “reported cases” are those which follow a strict case definition and specialized requirements.

In the past, in order for a Lyme case to be officially counted, local health departments needed to go through a complicated verification process for each case. In 2022, reporting requirements were eased in states the CDC considers “high incidence.” In those states, Lyme cases are now counted based solely on a positive Lyme test.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CNN