BILLINGS — Doctors have reported 15 cases of Lyme disease in Montana this year — a sharp spike from prior years. But health officials say most appear to be recently diagnosed older illnesses and that all likely originated outside the state.
The disease is passed to humans by ticks and can cause headaches, fever, fatigue and a distinctive, bulls-eye shaped rash. The overwhelming majority of cases occur on the East Coast and in the Great Lakes states.
The 15 cases of Lyme reported so far this year to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services compares with four cases each in 2007 and 2008. Only one case this year was reported as a recent infection; the others were thought to be infections from two to 20 years old that had previously escaped detection.