Incidence of Clinician-Diagnosed Lyme Disease, United States, 2005–2010

Abstract

"National surveillance provides important information about Lyme disease (LD) but is subject to underreporting and variations in practice. Information is limited about the national epidemiology of LD from other sources. Retrospective analysis of a nationwide health insurance claims database identified patients from 2005–2010 with clinician-diagnosed LD using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification, codes and antimicrobial drug prescriptions.

Of 103,647,966 person-years, 985 inpatient admissions and 44,445 outpatient LD diagnoses were identified. Epidemiologic patterns were similar to US surveillance data overall. Outpatient incidence was highest among boys 5–9 years of age and persons of both sexes 60–64 years of age. On the basis of extrapolation to the US population and application of correction factors for coding, we estimate that annual incidence is 106.6 cases/100,000 persons and that ≈329,000 (95% credible interval 296,000–376,000) LD cases occur annually. LD is a major US public health problem that causes substantial use of health care resources."

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/9/15-0417_article


That's the CDC admitting that there are approx. 329,000 NEW cases of Lyme each year - BUT let's not forget that there are states - like Arkansas - which aren't reporting but a very small number of cases of Lyme - BUT not because there aren't any cases of Lyme, it's because there are no doctors that are willing to diagnose Lyme disease!!!

So imagine if all the cases of new infections AND the cases of chronic Lyme that are being discovered were all reported.

Yep, Check out Arkansas in that link. I was CDC positive in 2008 & in 2009. My doctor reported it both years, and yet it's not recorded for 2008!! My state reported zero cases for all of those other years!!!

Now I know for a fact that I'm not the only one with Lyme disease here!! There are many others that don't get reported since there are no doctors in my area that will diagnose Lyme!

At least when you Google "Lyme Disease", it now says on the right hand side "Common, up to 3M US cases per year". I know it had to of changed recently because I remember it saying "Rare" at one point. Baby steps.

Agreed, Fronton!! Baby steps. Unfortunately there are millions of people suffering needlessly and horribly in some cases, while they take their baby steps!

Sorry, I think I'm ramping up again to begin the push to convince those in my state that there really is reason to be concerned about Lyme!! LOL! Last time I actually was able to speak to someone "close to" an elected official from my state, they didn't want to get involved because it was clear to them that Arkansas doesn't have an issue with this.

I was caught off guard, and was literally speechless, so I essentially got hung up on.

Thank you for your kind words, Happyjo!!

And I agree - it's pretty crazy. I talk in circles when I finally get on the phone with a representative's staff member, to show them just how crazy it all is!! We don't have any doctors reporting Lyme in our state simply because they refuse to do anything more than the ELISA - so no testing, means no cases, plus people are sent home with a "wait and see" approach when they show up with a bulls eye rash!!

Wow - I'd better stop there as I'm 'preaching to the choir' here!! LOL!!!