The state Health Department yesterday released a report on the number of cases of Lyme diseases in the commonwealth last year, and the numbers continue to rise.
Pennsylvania tallied 11,443 cases, an increase of 2,016 from the year before. Butler County led the state with 641 confirmed cases of Lyme disease, 199 more than the county had in 2015.
Locally, Indiana County’s 227 cases were the fourteenth highest total in the state. That’s 35 more cases than in 2015, and 67 more than in 2014. Four of our five neighboring counties had more cases than Indiana County had, led by Westmoreland County with 577 and Clearfield County with 348. Armstrong County had 268 cases, Jefferson 243, and Cambria County had 221.
The state numbers differ from the 12,092 cases listed in unofficial statistics released last December by the federal Centers for Disease Control. Last year, Pennsylvania again led the nation in the number of cases of Lyme disease.
