Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi. Humans can acquire it from black-legged ticks, which typically affix themselves to the body after a stroll through wooded areas. It is sometimes hard to diagnose if the tick is not discovered immediately or drops off the infected person before it is found.
Overwhelming fatigue and general aches and pains are the hallmarks of Lyme disease, which sometimes is confused with chronic fatigue syndrome. No amount of rest seems to help, and an infection may be accompanied by headaches, fever and a skin rash known to doctors as erythema migrans. Lyme disease can progress to affecting the nervous system, heart and joints and can usually be discovered after a thorough physical exam and laboratory tests that can help explain its symptoms.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receive reports of Lyme disease from state health department year, typically learning about approximately 30,000 cases in the United States. That number does not reflect every case diagnosed in the United States because the state institutions may not survey many private physicians.
Because the CDC largely budget based on perceived need, they instituted two projects designed to get a more accurate picture of Lyme disease infections. In a survey of clinical laboratories, where many of the blood tests are diagnosed, the CDC estimated that anywhere from 240,000 to 444,000 infections may have occurred in 2008 in the United States, based on blood submitted for review.