TY - JOUR AU - Hatchette, Todd AU - Johnston, B. Lynn AU - Schleihauf, Emily AU - Mask, Angela AU - Haldane, David AU - Drebot, Michael AU - Baikie, Maureen AU - Cole, Teri AU - Fleming, Sarah AU - Gould, Richard AU - Lindsay, Robbin T1 - Epidemiology of Lyme Disease, Nova Scotia, Canada, 2002–2013 T2 - Emerging Infectious Disease journal PY - 2015 VL - 21 IS - 10 SP - 1751 SN - 1080-6059 AB - Ixodes scapularis ticks, which transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease (LD), are endemic to at least 6 regions of Nova Scotia, Canada. To assess the epidemiology and prevalence of LD in Nova Scotia, we analyzed data from 329 persons with LD reported in Nova Scotia during 2002–2013. Most patients reported symptoms of early localized infection with rash (89.7%), influenza-like illness (69.6%), or both; clinician-diagnosed erythema migrans was documented for 53.2%. In a separate serosurvey, of 1,855 serum samples screened for antibodies to B. burgdorferi, 2 were borderline positive (both with an indeterminate IgG on Western blot), resulting in an estimated seroprevalence of 0.14% (95% CI 0.02%–0.51%). Although LD incidence in Nova Scotia has risen sharply since 2002 and is the highest in Canada (16/100,000 population in 2013), the estimated number of residents with evidence of infection is low, and risk is localized to currently identified LD-endemic regions. KW - Lyme disease KW - Nova Scotia KW - Canada KW - seroprevalence KW - Borrelia burgdorferi KW - epidemiology KW - vector-borne infections KW - ticks DO - 10.3201/eid2110.141640 UR - https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/21/10/14-1640_article ER - End of Reference