Tag Archive for ‘Lyme disease’

Lyme: a disease of environmental change?

With the advent of antibiotics, vaccines and sanitation, it looked as if we had conquered infectious disease. Some tropical diseases, such as malaria, remained in certain places, but in the industrialised world, we were entering what promised to be a healthy new era. However, as the decades have passed, old diseases have resurfaced, existing ones have spread, and new infections are emerging. Lyme disease is one that has risen to prominence over the last few years and now affects more than 100,000 people each year in temperate regions.