Where is Lyme Disease Found?

Lyme disease was originally discovered in the town of Old Lyme, in Connecticut from where it gets its name. Lyme disease was diagnosed as a separate condition for the first time in 1975. Previously it had been mistaken for juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.

In the USA, Lyme disease is now recognized as being endemic^*1 in North America, Europe, some parts of Africa. It is becoming epidemic^*2   in its spread in the Northern Hemisphere where it is estimated that it affects as many as 300,000 people annually in the United States and as many as 65,000 people a year in Europe.

Lyme disease has been reported most often in the north eastern United States, but it has been reported in all 50 states of the USA. In the United States, it is primarily contracted in the Northeast in the states from Maine to Maryland, in the Midwest in Minnesota and Wisconsin, Mid Atlantic, in the West in Oregon and Northern California. 

Lyme disease is also found in Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, France, Portugal, United Kingdom, Ireland, Scandinavia and many regions in Eastern Europe including Russia. It has also been confirmed in North Africa, and in Asia especially in China, Japan and Korea. In Eurasia and Northern Africa.

In the Southern Hemisphere there is debate about whether Lyme disease is actually transmitted in Australia  Many medical authorities believe it is unlikely and still questionable whether the disease is endemic in Australia because the ticks which are known to transmit Lyme disease are not present. These experts believe that those with the disease are thought to have caught it outside of Australia.

However there is another school of thought that there are thousands of undiagnosed cases of Lyme disease that have been transmitted in Australia but the exact number of people with Lyme disease in Australia is unknown because unlike other countries, it is not a notifiable disease and therefore public health officials do not collect any data.

The Australian Health Department currently claim there is no Lyme disease in Australia. The Lyme Association in Australia however is collecting data and mapping it with the aim to raise awareness of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illness in Australia

Note ^*1 Endemic is often confused with the term epidemic, but they are have different meanings. An endemic disease refers to the constant presence of a disease or infectious agent within a given geographic area or population group or racial group. It refers to the usual presence of a given disease within such and area or group. Endemic diseases are not always present at high levels and can be relatively rare, but the defining feature of a regional endemic disease is that it can always be found in the population that lives there.

If Lyme disease is normally present in a geographical region it is said to be endemic in the region and that region then becomes a high risk area for the transmission of Lyme disease.

Note ^*2 In contrast, an epidemic occurs when there is a higher number than normal of occurrences of a particular disease in a given population. An epidemic refers to a wide spread outbreak of a disease that is spreading through one or more populations. Under certain circumstances, an epidemic can lead to a disease becoming endemic in a region. Pandemics are world-wide epidemics.

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