Tackling tick season: Improving Lyme disease surveillance and prevention through technology-powered public health

Each year, as spring turns to summer, the risk of Lyme disease surges across much of the United States — especially in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Upper Midwest and parts of the Pacific Coast. While preventive actions remain important, public health teams are also working behind the scenes to keep up with evolving surveillance needs, expanding risk areas and rising case counts.

Climate change is pushing tick populations into new territories and shifting disease patterns, making Lyme disease more difficult to predict and control. Technology and data have become essential tools — both for understanding the disease and combating it.

More than a seasonal threat: Lyme disease in the U.S.

Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne illness in the U.S., with reported cases rising sharply in recent years as tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Although nearly 90% of reported cases come from high-incidence states — including Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin and Virginia — warmer temperatures and changing ecosystems are helping ticks thrive in new areas.

The disease is primarily transmitted by blacklegged ticks (commonly called deer ticks) and caused by infection with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. Not every bite from an infected deer tick results in Lyme disease. For transmission to occur, the tick must be attached for more than 24-hours and risk grows significantly after 36-48 hours. 

What to watch for: Ticks, symptoms and timing

Many people mistakenly believe ticks fall from trees. In reality, ticks typically cling to tall grass or low vegetation, latching onto people or animals as they brush past.

Knowing the difference between a deer tick and the more common wood tick (also known as the American dog tick) is also important. Wood ticks are roughly the size of an apple seed and do not carry Lyme disease, though can transmit other diseases such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. Deer ticks are much smaller, about the size of a sesame seed, and are the primary carriers of Lyme disease.

Early signs of Lyme disease typically appear 3 to 30 days after a bite and may include a bullseye-shaped rash (erythema migrans), fever, headache, fatigue and joint pain. As the infection progresses, symptoms can expand to include muscle or tendon swelling, a stiff neck, nerve pain, facial palsy, severe headaches, additional rashes, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and neurologic issues such as inflammation of the brain and spinal cord or tingling and numbness in the hands and feet.

Without prompt treatment, Lyme disease can lead to long-term complications affecting the nervous system, joints and cardiovascular function. Fortunately, most people fully recover when diagnosed early and treated with antibiotics — underscoring the importance of both personal vigilance and public health response.

Expanding risk and the data gap

The risk for Lyme disease is no longer confined to a single region or season. Ticks are now active for more of the year and in expanding areas including parts of the South and Pacific Northwest, which are seeing increased cases. 

The CDC estimates that while about 89,000 cases were reported in 2023, the actual number of infections may be closer to 500,000. That gap between reported and estimated cases highlights a challenge for public health: fragmented, inconsistent or outdated data. A revised case definition came out in 2022, which helped improve Lyme reporting in high-incidence areas, but it also revealed just how difficult it can be to collect reliable information at scale.

Public health teams need flexible, standardized surveillance tools that can adapt to evolving definitions, new data sources and varying regional needs.

How public health technology is helping Lyme surveillance

Nationally, regionally and locally, effective management of Lyme disease starts with timely and accurate data. Advancements in public health technology are making a difference. Modern platforms streamline case tracking, align with CDC reporting standards and integrate data from multiple sources including electronic health records (EHRs).

These systems help reduce the burden on local health departments while preserving quality data. They also support secure, scalable reporting that allows officials to monitor patterns and assess risk more efficiently, even as case definitions and transmission zones shift.

In high-incidence jurisdictions, automated case classification can speed up reporting without compromising clinical insight. In low-incidence areas, tools that enable consistent investigation workflows help fill gaps in the national picture.

Supporting smarter response and prevention

Technology empowers prevention. With better data in hand, public health teams can: 

• Identify Lyme hotspots
• Issue timely warnings
• Target educational outreach
• Strategically allocate resources 

For example, recognizing a spike in cases among older adults (whose incidence has nearly doubled in recent years) can lead to tailored prevention strategies for at-risk populations.

Surveillance also feeds research. As reported in a study published in March 2025, researchers identified a key enzyme that could become a future therapeutic target for Lyme disease. Without robust case tracking, insights like these would be harder to uncover — and even harder to act upon.

Going from reactive to proactive

As vector-borne diseases like Lyme continue to rise, public health teams need more than seasonal reminders and basic statistics. They need a connected, intelligent way to monitor disease, reduce transmission and protect communities long term.

Purpose-built public health solutions can prove pivotal for this — helping agencies manage case data, support investigations and track trends in line with evolving national standards. With the right tools in place, public health can respond faster, act smarter and move from reactive to proactive in the fight against Lyme disease.

Staying informed and ahead of the threat 

To track Lyme activity in your area, the CDC offers an interactive map and additional surveillance data including case incidence by region, age, race and sex.  

Several organizations offer training and toolkits to help clinicians support patients and address their concerns and questions. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) provides a variety of resources, including the CUSP Method, a method to improve teamwork and clinical best practices to address safety issues. The American Medical Association (AMA) and American College of Cardiology (ACC) also provide toolkits for developing care plans and managing specific conditions.

Moving ahead with better tools

As Lyme disease continues to expand into new regions and evolves, public health responses must evolve too. Technology now offers tools to track new cases, detect emerging patterns and support timely community outreach. While surveillance, research and treatment efforts continue to advance, collecting complete, timely clinical data — especially in non-endemic areas — remains a challenge.

With Conduent’s powerful Maven® Public Health Solutions for Lyme surveillance, public health teams can expertly navigate these complexities with intelligent insights. Our tools ease the burden on internal staff, preserve data integrity and align with the CDC’s latest surveillance standards and message mapping guides — including integration with electronic health records (EHRs) from large healthcare systems. The result is a more complete, real-time view of Lyme disease across the U.S., helping public health teams more effectively respond to emerging risks.