CAPITAL REGION — In 2002, there were just 15 cases of Lyme disease in Saratoga County.

This year, Saratoga County is seeing more cases of Lyme disease than ever before. Saratoga County has already confirmed 138 new cases of Lyme disease, up from the 115 cases the county reported during the same period in 2007, and the 85 it reported in all of 2006.

Other Capital Region counties are also seeing big jumps in Lyme disease.

As of Friday, there were 54 confirmed cases of Lyme disease in Schenectady County, a 57 percent jump from the same time period in 2007, when 21 cases were confirmed. In Albany County, 387 cases of Lyme disease were reported through the end of July, a 49 percent increase from the 259 cases reported during the same time period in 2007.

Officials said that Lyme disease, once more of a downstate phenomenon, seems to be moving north.

“The ticks were once more southern, but they’re moving up this way,” said Terri Stortz, communicable disease coordinator for Saratoga County. “People do not have to travel to get Lyme disease. They’re staying in the county and getting it.”

Stortz said the actual number of Lyme disease cases may be higher than the official figures. Doctors are supposed to give patients two different blood tests when confirming a case of Lyme disease; if they only administer one of the tests, the New York State Department of Health won’t include the case in the agency’s official Lyme disease tally. “Not all doctors do both tests,” she said.

Stortz and others said that doctors are becoming more aware of the protocol. “We are seeing a lot more testing,” she said.

Schenectady County Health Education Coordinator Glynnis Hunt said that doctors are more aware of Lyme disease and the need to test for it. “A lot more physicians and health care providers are doing testing,” she said. “This disease is constantly changing. It’s hard to attribute the increase to just one thing. We’re dealing with it more in our office. There are just more cases of it, and it keeps the teams busier.”

Statewide, there’s actually been a decrease in the number of reported cases of Lyme disease. In 2002, there were 5,476 cases of Lyme disease; last year, that number dropped to 4,187. And the state doesn’t really have an explanation for why this drop occurred, according to Claire Pospisil, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Health.

Several factors may account for the increase in Lyme disease cases locally.

“We have been seeing an upward trend in Lyme disease over the past 20 years,” Pospisil said, in an e-mail. “Lyme disease has increased its geographic range in New York state from the greater New York City metropolitan area and Long Island north and west, to where the leading edge of cases is as far north as Washington and Warren counties and as far west as Fulton, Montgomery and Herkimer counties.”

Pospisil said it’s difficult to account for this geographic spread, but that changes in the environment are likely contributors. Small climate changes, she said, can impact winter survival of deer ticks, and increases in temperature can allow ticks to expand their range. Other changes, such as fields converting back to forests and land being cleared for homes, can impact tick distributions and densities, and place people in environments where they’re more likely to encounter ticks.

Lyme disease is treatable using antibiotics and almost always results in a full cure, according to the New York State Department of Health. If treatment is delayed, chances of a complete cure decrease.

Lyme disease is caused by bacteria transmitted by the deer tick.

The chances of being bit by a tick increase during the time of year when ticks are most active. Young deer ticks are active from mid-May to mid August; adult ticks are most active from March to mid-May and from mid-August to November. People are more likely to be bit by a deer tick if they spend time in wooded and grassy areas. Deer ticks are tiny — a young deer tick is about the size of a poppy seed, and an adult deer tick is the size of a sesame seed, according to the New York State Department of Health.

symptoms

In 60 to 80 percent of Lyme disease cases, a rash resembling a bull’s eye or solid patch will appear and expand around the site of the deer tick bite, although sometimes there are multiple rash sites. During the early stages of Lyme disease, symptoms include chills and fever, headache, fatigue, stiff neck, muscle and/or joint pain and swollen glands. In later stages, if the disease is unrecognized or untreated, severe fatigue, a stiff aching neck, tingling or numbness in the arms and legs or facial paralysis can occur. Untreated, the disease can cause arthritis and neurological problems. Early symptoms usually appear within three to 30 days after a bite from an infected deer tick.

When visiting a tick-infested area, people should wear light-colored clothing, which makes it easier to find ticks, and tuck their pants into their socks and their shirts into their pants. They should also check for ticks every day.

If an attached tick is removed within 36 hours, the risk of tick-borne infection is minimal. To remove a tick, grasp the mouthparts with tweezers as close to the skin as possible, while taking care not to crush or puncture the body of the tick, which may contain infectious fluids. After removing the tick, disinfect the bite site and wash your hands.

More than 72,000 cases of Lyme disease have been reported to the New York State Department of Health since Lyme disease became reportable in 1986.