May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month. To help Mainers prepare for tick season and prevent the spread of tickborne diseases, the Maine Tracking Network has released updated Lyme disease data through the year 2017. In Maine, 1,844 cases of Lyme disease were reported in 2017, an increase of 347 cases from 2016.
Also, for the first time ever, the Maine Tracking Network has published data describing anaplasmosis and babesiosis. Together in one topic area with Lyme disease, users can now explore data for these three diseases carried by the deer tick. See these data at the town, county, and state levels, for the years 2001-2017.
Using the interactive data displays in the portal, users will be able to see that while the number of anaplasmosis and babesiosis cases are lower than Lyme disease, cases for all three diseases have been increasing since 2010.
Symptoms of anaplasmosis include fever, headache, malaise, and body aches. Babesiosis symptoms include fever, chills, sweating, dark urine, and possibly anemia. Common symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, headache, joint and muscle pains, and fatigue. Half of all people with Lyme disease have an expanding “bulls-eye” rash (erythema migrans).
Adults ages 65 and older have the highest rates of all three tickborne diseases. Even though these three diseases are carried by the same tick, the other age groups at high risk for each disease differ somewhat. For anaplasmosis and babesiosis, individuals ages 45-65 have the second highest rate, while for Lyme disease, the second highest rate is among individuals ages 5-14.
Learn More:
- Explore data on tickborne diseases in Maine.
- Visit the Lyme Disease Awareness Month page for a list of statewide activities.
- View Maine CDC’s YouTube videos on various tick topics.
- Follow Maine CDC on Facebook for posts on tickborne illness prevention.
- Protect yourself from tickborne diseases. Wear protective clothing outside, conduct daily tick checks, and apply EPA-approved repellent.