Maine reported a record number of tickborne disease cases in 2024, breaking another record high set the year before.
There were 3,218 reported cases of Lyme disease last year in the state, nearly 300 more than in 2023, according to data from the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cases of other tick-borne diseases, including Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis, also increased and broke state records.
Data from the Maine CDC show that the rate of tickborne diseases was especially high among Mainers in the midcoast.
"The deer tick is prone to drying out quite easily, so forested areas where it remains relatively humid like it does along the coast are really kind of perfect habitats for the ticks themselves," said Griffin Dill, who manages the University of Maine Cooperative Extension Tick Laboratory. The lab collects samples of the insects around the state.
"[There's] also great habitat for their primary wildlife hosts, like deer and small mammals like mice and chipmunks and things like that," Dill added.
Dill said the habitat range for ticks has grown and will likely continue to expand as winters become warmer and shorter. Deer ticks may be active any time temperatures are above freezing.
And Dill said people should continue to take precautions to reduce their exposure to ticks even in the winter, because they're now a year-round problem.
"We used to get a break during the winter months when it was cold and snowy," he said. "The past several years, we haven't had those real cold, snowy winters, and we have been receiving ticks here at the lab in all 12 months of the year."
