High School Students Want to Know: Can Lyme disease kill you?

 Question #6

Can Lyme disease kill you?  

In some rare circumstances people have been known to die from Lyme disease.  In these limited known instances of fatality, death is usually caused by Lyme carditis, where the bacteria cause an infection of the heart muscle, or in immune system disorders caused by untreated, prolonged infection.  According to research by DeLong, Hsu, and Kotsoris published in a recent issue of  BMC Public Health, "...Lyme disease is rarely reported as a cause of death." 

Because it is difficult to accurately test for Lyme disease causing bacteria there is still some disagreement among scientists and doctors about how to diagnose and characterize the effects of Lyme disease.  Complicating this problem, the symptoms attributed to Lyme disease are often similar to those of other illnesses so some people believe misdiagnosis may be obscuring the facts. 

 

Post by C. Fisher

DeLong, Allison et al. “Estimation of cumulative number of post-treatment Lyme disease cases in the US, 2016 and 2020.” BMC public health vol. 19,1 352. 24 Apr. 2019, doi:10.1186/s12889-019-6681-9