
MRI scan of a patient with suspected Multiple Sclerosis, later diagnosed with Lyme neuroborreliosis. A lesion is clear in the left-sided basal ganglia and the posterior internal capsule (Wilke, et al, 2000).
The Spread of Lyme Disease
Areas which have recently begun seeing Lyme disease cases may simply be more aware of the symptoms and, therefore, be better at reporting the problem or may have undergone environmental changes affecting the local wildlife. This would impact on Lyme disease infection as ticks carrying the Lyme disease bacteria require certain host animals and habitat to survive and maintain the infection reservoir. Periodic increases in Lyme disease infections in an area are often thought due to local weather affecting the availability of certain foodstuffs for animals playing host to ticks that transmit Borrelia. Acorns are one such example and researchers have connected large acorn harvests with increases in Lyme disease due to acorns being a food source for mice that act as a host reservoir.
The clear differences between a zoonosis and an infection directly transmitted between humans makes comparisons between Lyme disease and AIDS appear nonsensical, even though some Lyme advocates have drawn such comparisons. Although we may not fully understand where this infection came from initially the recent scientific research on Lyme disease origin and bacterial development do seem to discredit the idea of it being a manufactured agent or accidental result of biowarfare research.