Lyme disease is one of the most prevalent insect-borne diseases in the country, with far more cases reported each year than other diseases carried by mosquitoes, fleas and ticks, such as West Nile virus. There were more than 62,000 reported cases of the tick-borne disease in the United States in 2022, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control's data. However, the true number of cases each year could be seven times that number due to underreporting, the CDC estimates. The prevalence of the disease, which is spread to people through the bite of a blacklegged tick, or a deer tick , has increased dramatically since the United States first began tracking the disease in 1991.
While better surveillance explains part of the increase, the warming climate has also made more of the country suitable for the ticks that carry the disease. See how deer ticks have spread across the United States since 1996. Which U.
S. states have the most Lyme disease cases? As ticks have spread across the nation, so has Lyme disease. In 2022, Vermont had one of the highest numbers of cases per capita with nearly 200 cases per 100,000 people, according to the CDC.
In 1996, Vermont had only one case per 100,000 people. The Midwest has especially increased in cases, CDC data show. How common is Lyme disease in California? Although Lyme disease is most common in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and upper Midwest regions of the United States, dozens of cases are reported each year in California, the CDC said.
