The toll Lyme takes on the body is hard to quantify. The chronic form of the disease affects all patients differently, often taking a long time to fully manifest. It is a particularly insidious disease in the pantheon of human afflictions, and unfortunately, one that we still know very little about. We know how it’s contracted: through ticks, which transfer the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria as they bite their human hosts. We also know that Lyme is very curable in its acute st

Lyme disease was first reported in 1975 in the town of Lyme in Connecticut. It’s a tick-borne illness caused by infection with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. It has a wide range of possible symptoms affecting multiple organ systems. A characteristic circular rash often develops around the site of the tick bite within days or weeks. However, in 20–30% of cases there is no rash, so the disease must be identified by other symptoms. Initially, Lyme patients usually experienc