LYME disease is a bacterial infection spread to humans through the bite of infected ticks.
Between three and 30 days after someone is bitten, they can develop a circular rash around the area of the bite.
It can then lead to a range of more serious symptoms, including a flu-like illness with tiredness, headaches and muscle or joint pain.
If the condition is not treated, symptoms may develop months or years later. It can cause neurological symptoms, such as temporary paralysis of the facial muscles, and it can also trigger symptoms similar to those of fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome.
Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose but a blood test is available. It can be treated with antibiotics but is difficult to cure if discovered late.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
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