Over the past seven years, the number of Lyme Disease (LD) cases in Anne Arundel County has more than doubled, from 84 in 2000 to 196 in 2007, which correlates to CDC findings. It is endemic in 10 states, including Maryland, and Anne Arundel County has the second highest number of LD cases in the state. Despite the increasing prevalence and growing public concern, there is no definitive evidence regarding efficacy of personal preventive measures and environmental interventions. Other county-level studies have investigated risk factors, but none have included the investigation as a part of routine surveillance or narrowed the study population to cases with a known exposure date range.
Objective
In order to respond to the increase of reports of LD to local health departments and the limited utility of routine LD surveillance, active surveillance activities were focused on collecting exposure data from LD cases with a reasonably narrow date range of exposure.