Lyme disease

English

Etymology

Named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, USA, where a number of cases were identified in 1975.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Homophone: lime disease

Noun

Lyme disease (uncountable)

1. (pathology) Infection by one of three or more subspecies of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is transmitted by four species of tick in genus Ixodes. Symptoms include a rash followed by fever, joint pain, and headaches.
   • 2018 August 23, “Lyme diseases cases spiked by 50 percent in Dutchess in 2017”, in Poughkeepsie Journal‎^[1], archived from the original on 10 April 2021:

     The number of Lyme disease cases reported in Dutchess County last year jumped by 50 percent compared to the year before, reaching the third-highest total on record in the state.

   • 2025, S.E. Case, chapter 1, in Rigsby WI‎^[2], volume 1: Foothold, →ISBN, retrieved 28 August 2025, page 18:

     I wish I could get Lyme disease if it would get me out of this dance.

Synonyms

• Lyme neuroborreliosis

Derived terms

• chronic Lyme disease

Translations

infection by bacteria of the genus Borrelia

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 萊姆病 / 莱姆病 (zh) (Láimǔbìng), 萊姆 / 莱姆 (zh) (láimǔ)

• Czech: lymská borelióza f
• Danish: Borrelia
• Dutch: lymeziekte (nl) f, ziekte van Lyme (nl) m
• Esperanto: Boreliozo Lyme
• Estonian: Lyme'i tõbi, Lyme'i borrelioos, puukborrelioos
• Finnish: borrelioosi
• French: borréliose (fr) f, maladie de Lyme (fr) f
• German: Lyme-Borreliose f, Lyme-Krankheit f
• Hungarian: Lyme-kór (hu)
• Japanese: ライム病 (Raimu-byō)
• Polish: borelioza (pl) f, choroba z Lyme (pl) f
• Portuguese: doença de Lyme (pt) f
• Russian: боле́знь Ла́йма (ru) f (boléznʹ Lájma)
• Spanish: enfermedad de Lyme (es) f
• Swedish: borrelia (sv)
• Thai: โรคไลม์
• Turkish: Lyme hastalığı

See also

• Ixodes ricinus (sheep tick, castor bean tick, of western Eurasia).
• Ixodes persulcatus (taiga tick, of China)
• Ixodes scapularis (black-legged tick, deer tick, of eastern North America)
• Ixodes pacificus (western black-legged tick, of western North America)
• Peromyscus leucopus (white-footed mouse)

Further reading

• Lyme disease on Wikipedia.Wikipedia