PORTLAND – Recorded cases of Lyme disease appear to be leveling off or falling throughout northern New England after nearly a decade of steady growth.

By the end of August, Maine doctors recorded about the same number of cases seen by the end of August 2003, said Geoff Beckett, assistant epidemiologist for the Maine Bureau of Health.

In Vermont, 40 cases of Lyme disease were reported by Sept. 25 with about half the patients likely infected outside the state, said Dr. Patsy Tassler, an epidemiologist with the state Health Department.

Doctors recorded 43 cases for all of 2003 and 37 in 2002.

Tassler said the numbers may be linked to doctors’ awareness of the disease and on weather and tick populations.