BBC News reported that Lyme disease cases in the UK are rising quickly. However there is huge controversy over the existence of a chronic form of the disease that is resistant to any treatment.
According to NHS, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is transferred to humans by a bite from an infected tick. The symptoms usually starts with a distinctive rash shaped like a bullseye, but symptoms may usually be different not the same for everybody, thus making diagnosis tricky.
Early symptoms include tiredness and muscle aches. If left untreated the disease can cause severe joint pains, paralysis of facial muscles, mental confusion and heart problems.
The cases of the bacterial infection have risen dramatically between 2000 and 2011. Although some of that increase may be down to better reporting, the NHS calculated up to 3,000 cases of Lyme disease a year in England and Wales now. This created an alarm to health practitioners in the area.
Recently, a number of influential people have been complaining that they have a chronic form of the disease, the one that resists treatments and persists with severe symptoms. This condition is not widely accepted by doctor however. There are others who have talked about Lyme disease being under-diagnosed or being the root cause of other illnesses they may have. Supermodel Bella Hadid has been revealed to have the disease. Her mother Yolanda Foster documents her struggle to find a cure for what she calls "chronic" infection on her Instagram account, posting pictures of herself taking alternative treatments.
The thought about a Lyme infection not being completely treated and lingers for years is very questionable. Doctors say that the majority of people with the disease, if diagnosed early, can be completely treated with just a short cycle of antibiotics.
"There is no general agreement whether chronic Lyme actually exists," says Matthew Dryden, a consultant microbiologist at Public Health England's Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory (RIPL).
