Lyme disease

For a lay person:

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection spread by tick bites. It often starts with a spreading red rash, and if untreated can affect the joints, nerves and heart.

For a trained medical person:

Borrelia burgdorferi infection: early localised (erythema migrans), early disseminated (neurological, cardiac) and late (arthritis) stages. Treated with doxycycline or other antibiotics.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Wind damp heat and evil toxins; Heat toxins with upright qi deficiency; Qi and yin deficiency with lingering damp heat evils. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: See a doctor promptly for a spreading rash or flu-like illness after a tick bite.