What is Lyme Disease?

A disease caused by a spirochaete transmitted by the bite of the tick Ixodes dammini. Expanding red rings appear on the skin followed by fever, fatigue, headaches, stiff neck, persistent arthritis and enlarged lymph nodes. Some affected people develop nervous system complications; others develop mental illness or profound fatigue and weakness that may last for months or years. Treatment at the ring stage can prevent these complications.

Photograph depicts the pathognomonic erythematous rash in the pattern of a “bull’s-eye”, which manifested at the site of a tick bite on this woman’s posterior right upper arm, who’d subsequently contracted Lyme disease.