Description
This article is from the Lyme Disease
FAQ, by Milo7 with numerous
contributions by others.
1.03 Why is the illness called "Lyme disease?"
Lyme disease is named after a small coastal town in Connecticut called
Lyme, where in 1975, a woman named Polly Murray brought to the attention of
Yale researchers an unusual cluster of more than 51 cases of mostly
pediatric arthritis. In 1977, Dr. Allen Steere and Yale colleagues
identified the new clinical entity and named it "Lyme arthritis." In 1979,
the name was changed to "Lyme disease," when Steere and colleague Dr.
Steven Malawista discovered additional symptoms linked to the disease:
problems of neurologic involvement and severe fatigue.
It wasn't until 1982 that the causative agent of the disease was discovered
by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer. Burgdorfer published a paper on the infectious
agent of Lyme disease, and earned the right to have his name placed on the
Lyme disease spirochete now known as Borrelia burgdorferi. Borrelia
burgdorferi (Bb) has since been the official taxonomic name of the Lyme
disease spirochete.
(Information from Forschner-Vanderhoof K., Everything You Need to Know
About Lyme Disease)
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