5 surprising symptoms of Lyme disease

NEARLY 500,000 PEOPLE ARE diagnosed with Lyme disease each year in the U.S. For about 75% of them, the first sign will be a skin lesion that appears one to four weeks after being bitten by an infected deer tick. But it might not look how you'd imagine: only 20% of these lesions take on the classic bull’s-eye appearance commonly associated with Lyme.

- BY ANGELA HAUPT

Other early symptoms of Lyme disease mimic what you might experience with the flu: a fever, chills, muscle aches, and swollen lymph nodes. Within the first five to 10 days of Lyme disease infection, most people will experience only these relatively ordinary symptoms. If they’re promptly diagnosed with and treated for Lyme—which generally means two to three weeks of the antibiotic doxycycline—the story often ends there.

But for up to 10% of people, most of whom aren't diagnosed or treated promptly, the disease triggers lingering, serious symptoms. Researchers aren't sure exactly what causes chronic Lyme disease, but speculate it could be the result of factors like persistent bacteria or genetic predispositions. When someone has it, “there’s almost nothing it can’t do,” says Dr. Amy Edwards, an assistant professor of pediatrics at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine who specializes in infectious diseases. The complex symptoms often stump doctors, but “once it’s caught you off guard a few times, you’re kind of looking for it everywhere. Every time someone comes in with weird symptoms in the summer, you're like, ‘Could it be Lyme disease?’”