Lyme disease is caused by the borrelia bacteria and can lead a variety of health complications if left untreated. Between three and 30 days after being bitten by an infected tick, a person may experience symptoms that resemble the flu, such as a fever, muscle and joint aches, headache, chills, and swollen lymph nodes.
A bulls-eye rash also appears around the site of the bite for the majority of people who have contracted the disease; however, 20–30% of people may not get a rash at all. Because of these non-specific symptoms, many people may not know that they’ve contracted Lyme disease and therefore won’t seek out proper treatment.
As the infection continues to plague the body, more symptoms will develop that can be more severe and damaging. These can include severe headaches and neck stiffness, a loss of muscle tone in the face, arthritis with joint pain and swelling, an irregular heartbeat, inflammation of the brain and spinal cord, and nerve pain. These symptoms can happen days or even months after a person first contracts the infection.
Clearly, Lyme disease has the ability to affect many organs in the body. But can Lyme disease cause jaundice as a result of liver problems?
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