What Is Lyme Disease?

What Is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is transmitted by ticks; tiny little creatures from the arachnid family (the same family as spiders). Only a small number of ticks in the UK are infected with the bacteria, and only ticks that have bitten an infected animal can transmit the bacteria to humans.

Lyme disease, also referred to as Lyme Borreliosis, gets its name from the town of Old Lyme in Conneticut, USA, where a large number of children were struck down with what people at the time thought was a kind of juvenile arthritis, but it later emerged that they had been bitten by ticks carrying the Borrelia Burgdorferi bacteria. This event occurred in the 1970’s but diseases transmitted by ticks were known about many years before then. Diary entries from the 17th and 18th century describe ticks and illnesses that sound very similar to what we now call Lyme disease, and an autopsy carried out on a 5,000 year old mummy found traces of the bacteria’s DNA.

Ticks feed on the blood of living creatures and they like to live in grassy areas and woodland where they climb onto their host animal, in particular deer, dogs, cattle, sheep and other wildlife, and attach themselves to the skin using their mouth. Once attached they will feed on the host for long periods of time, up to 24 or even 36 hours in some cases, or until they are full. Ticks are often so small that they are not noticed, and in many cases people and animals don’t feel the tick biting, so they can get a good meal without being disturbed.

When someone is infected with the bacteria after being bitten, it can take anything up to 3 weeks for any symptoms to appear, the most common being a red rash shaped like the bullseye on a dart board, also referred to as Erythema Migrans. One of the problems with Lyme Disease is that many people do not display any clear symptoms and so it can commonly go undiagnosed, with symptoms including chills, fever and muscle aches being attributed to other potential causes.

If it is diagnosed early and treated properly, Lyme disease can easily be cured with antibiotics with very little risk of any ongoing damage. However if it is not diagnosed in time, or not treated early enough it can lead to serious physical, psychological and neurological damage. In cases where this occurs, there is a strong chance that the blame lies with misdiagnosis by any medical professional who has failed to diagnose or treat the infection appropriately, and that often constitutes medical negligence, for which compensation can be sought.

If you or someone you care for has suffered from Lyme disease because it has not been properly diagnosed or treated then you should contact us right now so that we can help you get the compensation you deserve.

Call us now on 0800 999 1374 or click here to start your claim.