AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine health officials report back-to-back increases in confirmed or probable cases of Lyme disease in 2007 and 2008.
The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said there were more than 900 cases of the tick-borne illness in humans last year, an increase of 72 percent. In 2007, there were 529 cases, a 57 percent increase, according to the center.
In 1997, 34 cases of Lyme disease were reported in Maine, the center has said.
Lyme disease is caused by bacteria transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected deer tick. Most common in southern and coastal Maine, Lyme is gradually moving up the state.
While the disease often causes symptoms such as joint pain and fatigue, it can be more serious. For some people, it brings fevers and meningitis-type symptoms.
Sometimes, it’s difficult to confirm a diagnosis.
“When we’re fortunate and people show up and tell us that they’ve had a tick, and then they get the rash and the rash is an expanding red rash at the site of the bite, that’s an easy diagnosis. The problem is, most people don’t remember a tick attachment and not everyone gets a rash,” said Dr. Bea Szantyr, a Lincoln-based physician who specializes in educating people about Lyme disease.
Gordon Smith, director of the Maine Medical Association, said it’s not uncommon for patients to disagree with some of the treatment decisions their doctors make.
Doctors had difficulty diagnosing what was wrong with Brunswick teenager Katonya Casterlin after she suffered an ear infection, 105.4-degree fever and meningitis-type symptoms, loss of the use of the left side of her body, and swelling on the right side.
Katonya’s family could be considered at high risk for two reasons: They live in Cumberland County, which along with York County has the most cases of Lyme disease in Maine, and they spend a lot of time outside on their 40-acre farm.
“We really don’t want to move. We love Maine. We just know that our choices to be outside people, farming and landscaping, means we’re always going to have to keep a full-length mirror in our bathroom and be like the primates and chimpanzees and pick each other for ticks,” said Katonya’s mother, Debbie Casterlin.
In May, two people were being treated for the disease at Waldo County General Hospital in Belfast, a hospital spokesperson reported at the time.