Medical literature has evidence of Lyme-like symptoms dating back to the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. The disease itself was pinpointed and named in the 1970s when researchers found serious symptoms coming from tick bites in and around Lyme, Connecticut.
Ticks all over the United States, Europe, and Asia can transmit Lyme disease. Deer ticks are perhaps the best known culprit, at least on the East Coast of the United States. Adult deer ticks feed on deer; deer tick larvae and immature ticks (called nymphs) feed on rodents and other small mammals. Both nymphs and adult ticks can spread Lyme disease.
In the United States, the majority of Lyme disease cases are reported in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Northern California.
The first symptom of Lyme disease is a red, circular rash known as erethema migrans (EM). It may look like a bull’s eye, with a red ring surrounding a clear area of skin with a red spot in the center where the bite occurred. The rash can vary in size from the size of a dime to a foot or more in diameter, and usually appears within a few weeks of the bite.
With the rash come flu-like symptoms like:
People with Lyme disease who do not get treated with antibiotics often develop arthritis. Though the arthritis can shift from one joint to another, the knee is the most commonly affected joint. As much as twenty percent of people with untreated Lyme disease end up with chronic arthritis.
Lyme disease can also have an affect on your nervous system, including: numbness and weakness in the limbs, poor muscle movement, stiff neck and severe headache, and even Bell’s palsy — a temporary paralysis of the facial muscles. Some people also experience memory loss, difficulty concentrating, a change in sleep habits, and a change in mood. These nervous system problems may develop weeks or months (or even years) after an untreated infection.