Lyme disease cases are on pace to break records this year, as reported cases of the tick-borne disease have already reached nearly 2,000 in Maine.

Through July 28, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention had reported 1,875 cases of Lyme disease, which is 20% higher than the same January-July time period in 2024, when there were 1,561 reported cases.

Cases of anaplasmosis, the second-most common tick-borne disease that’s also transmitted by the  deer tick, are also skyrocketing, with 890 cases reported so far in 2025, according to the Maine CDC. That’s 36% ahead of last year, when there were 655 by the end of July.

Lyme disease cases have generally been on the rise in the last 15 years, except during the pandemic, when people were more likely to stay indoors. In 2019, Maine recorded 2,167 Lyme cases. The all-time high of 3,218 cases was logged in 2024.

Griffin Dill, who manages the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s tick lab, said Monday that after a slow start to the tick season this spring, overall tick submissions are up about 15% to 20% compared to last year. The tick lab receives ticks from all over the state for its research.

The hot, humid weather interspersed with significant rainfall this summer has benefited the disease-carrying arachnids, Dill said. Ticks prefer humidity and are less active during prolonged dry periods.

“The weather has been conducive to tick activity,” Dill said. And with the weather recently being nearly ideal for people to spend time outdoors, Dill said, humans are more often in habitat that exposes them to ticks.

The range of the deer tick also keeps expanding, Dill said, with climate change likely a contributing factor. That means ticks are coming into contact with more of the Maine population.

While inland northern Maine is still relatively free of deer ticks, in Down East, especially Washington County, scientists are detecting more tick activity, Dill said.

“The ticks keep moving further Down East,” Dill said.

In recent years the epicenter of reported Lyme cases has moved from southern Maine — primarily Cumberland and York counties — to the Midcoast, especially Waldo, Lincoln and Knox counties.

Dill said based on the tick lifecycle, there’s usually a lull in tick activity in August, followed by a burst of ticks coming into contact with people in the fall, typically peaking in October.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that, if detected, can be treated with a course of antibiotics. Symptoms vary, but can include a bull’s-eye rash, fever, headache, fatigue, joint and neck pain and swollen lymph nodes. Anaplasmosis is also a bacterial infection and causes similar symptoms.

Lindsay Hammes, spokesperson for the Maine CDC, said in a statement Monday that climate change, the increased range of the ticks and improved diagnostic testing for Lyme disease are all factors behind the jump in Lyme cases.

“The most important message the Maine CDC wants Maine people and visitors to take away is that to help prevent becoming a part of this upward trend means undertaking personal protective measures every time you go outside,” Hammes said in a statement. “Ticks are not just in recreational areas, like woods and long grasses. They’re in leaf piles and leaf litter, in backyards and gardens.”

The Maine CDC recommends, when entering tick habitat, using Environmental Protection Agency-approved repellant, wearing light-colored long sleeved shirts and pants, and tucking the pants into socks. Look for ticks on your body and clothes when returning home, take showers after being in tick habitat and put any exposed clothes into the dryer on high heat for 15 minutes.

Scientists, including researchers at MaineHealth, are currently testing the effectiveness of a proposed Lyme vaccine.