Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a disease caused by bacteria in the Genus Borrelia that are transmitted to humans by ticks.

Symptoms of Lyme disease include fever, fatigue and a rash. If untreated the disease can cause more chronic problems within the joints or nervous system. Antibiotics are the primary form of treatment for Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is found in a variety of mammals and it is thought to have a persistent reservoir in rodents. Ticks act as vectors and transmit the Borrelia bacteria between rodents and other animals including humans and Lyme disease is therefore a zoonosis.

A photomicrograph of Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria; a known agent of Lyme disease.
Photograph by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, United States Federal Government.

Other names for (or types of) Lyme disease include:

• Borreliosis

Related terms

• Acari
• Host
• Mite
• Questing
• Vector

Related groups of terms

• General biology

See other words beginning with L