Lyme disease surveillance and available data Lyme disease has
been a nationally notifiable condition in the United States
since 1991. Reports of Lyme disease are collected and verified
by state and local health departments in accordance with their
legal mandate and surveillance practices. After removal of
personal identifiers, selected information on cases is shared
with CDC through the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance
System (NNDSS). For more information on NNDSS, see
http://www.cdc.gov/osels/ph_surveillance/nndss/nndsshis.htm.
Policies regarding case definitions, reporting, confidentiality,
and data release are determined by states and territories under
the auspices of the Council of State and Territorial
Epidemiologists (CSTE). Surveillance data have a number of
limitations that need to be considered in the analysis,
interpretation, and reporting of results. Additionally, answers
to frequently asked questions related to surveillance are
available. Limitations of surveillance data - Under-reporting