Lyme Disease eMedicine Rheumatology

Description: Lyme disease is due to infection with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and the body's immune response to the infection. In Europe, the rash (then called erythema chronicum migrans [ECM]) was first described at the beginning of the 20th century. The neurologic manifestations and the association with Ixodes ticks (also known as deer ticks) were recognized by the mid 1930s and were known as tick-borne meningoencephalitis. In the United States, Lyme disease was not recognized until the early 1970s, when an outbreak of pediatric arthritis occurred in the region around Lyme, Connecticut. This was investigated by Allen Steere, MD, and others from Yale. The recognition that the patients in the United States had ECM led to the recognition that Lyme arthritis was one manifestation of the same tick-borne condition known in Europe.
John O Meyerhoff, MD 2009