CT Counties Have Bad Lyme Disease Problem

Federal health officials warned this month that tick-related disease cases doubled in the United States between 2004 and 2016 and Lyme Disease accounted for a majority — 82 percent — of all tick-borne diseases reported during that time period. Connecticut was in the top 20 percent of states for tick-borne diseases with over 36,000 cases reported between 2004 and 2016.

According to federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there were 1,348 reported cases of Lyme Disease in Connecticut in 2004. In 2016, there were 1,748 reported cases of Lyme Disease in the state.

Below are the reported number of cases for each Connecticut county between 2004 and 2016, the period during which the CDC notes a doubling in tick-borne diseases:

Fairfield County: 5251
Hartford County: 2760
Litchfield County: 2639
Middlesex County: 1880
New Haven County: 4033
New London County: 4478
Tolland County: 2585
Windham County: 2186
Unknown: 8582

The CDC notes that there are limitations to this data for a number of reasons. First, the CDC says not all cases of Lyme Disease are reported to the agency and some Lyme Disease cases that are reported may be due to another cause.

The CDC also says states close their annual surveillance dataset at a different time than the CDC so the final counts published by them may not precisely match the figures provided by the state. Finally, the county figures represent the residence of the person with a reported case of Lyme Disease and not where that person was exposed.

Image via Shutterstock