What doctors wish patients knew about Lyme disease

Public Health May 10, 2024 . 12 MIN READ By Sara Berg, MS , News Editor AMA News Wire What doctors wish patients knew about Lyme disease May 9, 2024 As the weather warms up and more people head outdoors, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. There is an ongoing threat of ticks in certain areas when enjoying time in nature. They can even be found in your backyard and transmit Lyme disease, a tickborne infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Usually, Lyme disease completely resolves with a short course of antibiotics. But Lyme disease is not always a simple illness—it can cause prolonged symptoms if left untreated and sometimes even despite effective treatment, a phenomenon which is not well understood.Lyme diseaseis the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., with an estimated 476,000 people diagnosed and treated each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Meanwhile, the economic burden of Lyme disease in the U.S. is between $345 mill...