What Do Coronavirus And Lyme Disease Have In Common? More Than You Might Think – Forbes
Ill woman with headache and fever. What does she have?
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Like an unwanted stepchild, Lyme keeps getting lost in the shuffle. This time, it is Covid-19 pandemic that is understandably overshadowing it. But Lyme continues to infect an estimated 300,000 people in the US each year and there are some parallels between the two illnesses, as well as obvious differences.
Clinical notes
While Lyme and Covid-19 are very different infections, the former caused by the bacteria (Borrelia burgorferi) and the latter a virus (SARS-CoV-2), there are a couple of notable similarities. The most striking to me is that both are great masqueraders. Covid-19 symptoms range from asymptomatic, to life-threatening respiratory failure from pneumonia. More surprising symptoms include loss of smell (anosmia) and ...