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How Did Lyme Disease Get Its Name?

Lyme disease was named after the city in Connecticut in which the disease was first identified by U.S. researchers.

  1. Overview: Lyme Disease

    • Lyme disease is transferred to humans through ticks (primarily deer ticks) that carry the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. In areas where deer ticks are in abundance, more than 50 percent may be carriers of Borrelia burgdoferi. In addition to humans, deer ticks also feast on mice, birds, cats, dogs and horses, and can transfer the disease to other animals as well. Deer ticks lay in wait for warm-blooded hosts in low-lying brush and tall grassy, wooded areas. Lyme disease is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected tick.

    Polly Murray and Lyme Disease

    • Lyme disease first registered on the public radar in 1975, when Polly Murray, a resident of the coastal town of Lyme, Connecticut, complained to physicians about symptoms that affected her entire family. Believing Murray to be a bit touched, local physicians discounted her claims. However, she persisted, and eventually researchers from Yale University in New Haven delved into her case. They found more than 51 cases in the area of what they initially believed to be pediatric arthritis. In 1977, Yale's Dr. Allen Steere revised the named to "Lyme arthritis," and in 1979, again changed the name to Lyme disease.

    Lyme Disease In and Outside of the U.S.

    • Lyme disease might be associated with Lyme, Connecticut, but its roots go much further back. The first recorded instance of the disease was in 1883 in Breslau, Germany, when physician Alfred Buchwald described treating a skin disorder with all the earmarkings of Lyme disease. In 1909, physician Arvid Afzelius presented a paper at the Swedish Society of Dermatology about unique ring-shaped lesions he had observed that he believed to be attributed to tick bites. The first case of Lyme disease in the U.S. is believed to have occurred in 1970, when Wisconsin physician Rudolph Scrimenti documented his treatment of a hunter who'd been bitten by a tick.

    Symptoms and Treatment of Lyme Disease

    • The most telling symptom of Lyme disease is erythema migrans, the ringed, bulls-eye-shaped rash that occurs at the infection site. Erythema migrans affects up to 80 percent of Lyme disease sufferers. Other symptoms include fever, chills, fatigue, body ache, headache, severe joint paint and neurological problems such as meningitis or Bell's palsy. Memory loss and difficulty concentrating can also occur in the latter stages of the disease. A 14- or 21-day course of oral antibiotics is recommended to treat Lyme disease. However, if the disease has advanced, a patient will sometimes require intravenous antibiotic treatment.

    Trivia

    • The town of Lyme, Connecticut is quite small: A 2000 Census revealed 2016 residents. May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month in Connecticut.

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