what is lyme disease symptoms and treatment and everything else you need to know

Every person once in their lives, develops a skin infection or allergy that they have no clue about. Something that starts off as a normal itch or a rash, can increase in magnitude and turn into a serious disease or illness. One such disease is Lyme disease.

The symptoms of Lyme disease are chills, fever, fatigue, muscle aches and others apart from rashes and blisters on the body wherever a person is affected. People may also feel numbness and headaches very often if they have Lyme disease. Here is what you need to know about the Lyme disease:

What is Lyme disease?
If an infected black-legged or deer tick bites a human, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease – Borrelia Burgdorferi sensu lato is transmitted to the human. This causes the infectious disease called the Lyme disease. The deer tick itself becomes infected if it feeds on infected deer or mice. Ticks can be found in wooded areas and other natural forest areas.


The disease can be caused to a human when the tick stays on the skin for 24 to 48 hours to transmit the infection to the human being. Lyme disease is still a common condition experienced by people.

Lyme disease occurs in three stages -

Early localised disease where it causes rashes or red spots on the skin. These rashes are called erythema migrans. Though warm to touch, the patches are not itchy or painful in the initial stages.


The next stage is the early disseminated Lyme disease that occurs several weeks after the bite and is characterized by flu-like symptoms.

The third stage is the late disseminated Lyme disease that occurs when no treatment is received for the infection in stage 1 and 2. This stage is characterized by worsening of symptoms of stage 2.

Does the Lyme disease stay with you forever?
There is no doubt that the best way to treat the disease is to treat it when it is in its first stage itself. This can help in reducing the chances of entering the second stage and experiencing painful symptoms. This will also ensure that the person suffering from the disease is able to recover faster.

If the patient happens to enter the second stage, the infection may take longer to kill, and symptoms may take even longer to finally go away.


Some symptoms like joint pain can stay with you for way longer even after the bacteria is killed and there is little scientific explanation for the same. Doctors have not been able to explain this but link it with bodies that may be prone to autoimmune diseases.