Although Lyme disease is very rarely life-threatening, it can lead to chronic joint pain and neurologic symptoms, even in people who are treated with the recommended course of antibiotics. If left untreated, the infection spreads to the joints, heart and nervous system and can lead to more serious complications.
As people weary of being cooped up during a pandemic winter look forward to a summer outside, residents across the northeastern United States are once again confronted with a familiar virulent pathogen lurking in the woods and fields. Unlike coronavirus, however, this dangerous microorganism doesn’t float through the air it enters the body through the bite of a tick.
Lyme disease has been a constant scourge since it was identified five decades ago on the Connecticut coastline, before spreading across the New England and Mid-Atlantic states. Caused by the bacterium
Borrelia burgdorferi (and its cousin
Borrelia mayonii), the disease has long baffled scientists with its strangely stealthy manifestations.