Prognosis of Lyme Disease

Early symptoms of infection are a distinct bull's eye rash at the location of the tick bite and flu-like symptoms. Lyme Disease in the advanced stage is characterized by debilitating symptoms involving multiple parts of the body. Early treatment with antibiotics usually results in a complete recovery of the patient.

Early symptoms

• According to the CDC, infection with Lyme Disease can manifest itself by a bull's eye rash that appears within days of a bite by an infected tick. The rash may be accompanied by flu-like symptoms.

Treatment

• If the patient is treated with a full course of antibiotics within one month of becoming infected, the patient can expect to be completely cured upon conclusion of treatment.

Hurdles

• Early intervention can be difficult, however, since the initial infection may not come with any symptoms. If Lyme Disease remains either untreated or not treated enough, the disease progresses undetected for months or even years to an advanced stage when symptoms do appear.

Late Stage

• Advanced-stage Lyme Disease can involve a wide variety of symptoms, such as arthritis, heart palpitations, memory loss, confusion, and fatigue. The disease can mimic (and is often misdiagnosed as) multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, or febrile myalgia.

Warning

• Although Lyme Disease can still be treated successfully with antibiotics in the advanced stage, some patients report chronic symptoms despite treatment.