What is Lyme Disease ?
Lyme disease, also called Lyme borreliosis, is a widely distributed multi-system disease that can affect almost any part of the body caused by at least three species of bacteria belonging to the genus Borrelia. Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto is the main cause of Lyme disease in the US, whereas Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii cause most European cases. The disease is named after the town of Lyme in New London County, Connecticut, United States, where a number of cases were identified in 1975. Although Allen Steere realized Lyme disease was a tick-borne disease in 1978, the cause of the disease remained a mystery until 1981, when B. burgdorferi was identified by Willy Burgdorfer, an American scientist born and educated in Basel, Switzerland.
Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere (half of a planet that is north of equator). Borrelia is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks belonging to a few species of the genus Ixodes (“hard-bodied ticks “). Symptoms can appear quickly or develop over time. Early symptoms may include headache, fever, depression, fatigue and a characteristic circular skin rash called Erythema chronicum migrans. Left untreated, later symptoms may involve the joints, central nervous system and heart. In most cases, the infection and its symptoms are eliminated by antibiotics, either orally or intravenously, especially if the illness is treated early. Inadequate or delayed treatment can lead to the more serious symptoms, which can be disabling and difficult to treat.