Lyme disease cases in England rise by more than 20% in a year
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- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) reported 1,168 laboratory‑confirmed Lyme disease cases in England in 2025, a 22% increase from the 959 cases recorded in 2024.
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) noted that the 2025 count is almost identical to the 1,151 cases seen in 2023, indicating a stable high level after the recent rise.
- UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) also identified two probable cases of tick‑borne encephalitis complex in 2025, bringing the total locally acquired cases to six since the virus was first detected in the UK in 2019.
- Dr Claire Gordon, head of the rare and imported pathogens laboratory at UKHSA, said yearly case rates fluctuate with public awareness, testing rates, and environmental factors such as weather, climate trends, and host‑animal populations.
- Prof Linden Hu, immunology professor at Tufts Medical School, explained that veterinary Lyme prevention is more common because pet owners readily medicate animals, while human field trials are costly and risky, slowing vaccine development.
Why it matters: Public health services must expand testing and prevention, while patients risk chronic illness and higher treatment costs; pharmaceutical firms face heightened demand for effective human Lyme vaccines and therapeutics.
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