Great comments from Georgia Lyme Disease Association: "From Florida: More flawed data reported because nobody thinks to ask the question, "Hey, is what constitutes a reportable case of Lyme disease in Connecticut the same thing that is a reportable case in Florida? Because, guess what? The answer is, NO - not by a long shot.
In Connecticut, rashes ALONE may be reported as a case, no positive test needed. Thousands of cases in the Northeast are rashes alone. In Florida and most other southern states, rashes alone are NOT reportable making state to state case numbers impossible to compare.
Only 67 cases of Lyme disease were reported in Florida last year. We'd wager only 67 would be reported in Connecticut, too, if cases there had to meet the same restrictive reporting criteria used in southern states. To learn the truth, just ask around - hundreds of citizens and knowledgeable doctors will tell you. Lyme disease is a HUGE problem in Florida and the Southeast but one denied by public health officials for decades. Read about Dr. Ed Masters' work involving the lone star tick and Lyme disease and his fight with the CDC to get Lyme disease recognized in the South in Pamela Weintraub's award-winning book, Cure Unknown: Inside the Lyme Epidemic."
http://www.wuft.org/news/2013/09/19/horrifying-lyme-disease-symptoms-misdiagnosed-at-alarming-rate/