May 3, 2016.

12,000 to 15,000 cases of infection with Borrelia Burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, are diagnosed every year in France. But the number of real patients, and who ignore each other, could exceed 650,000 in France, according to the association France Lyme, which denounces a denial of reality in France.

Tick ​​infection often goes unnoticed

The problem with Lyme disease is that it is most often transmitted by ticks, and people who are bitten often don’t notice it! Ticks, engorged with blood, fall off on their own, or are torn off by clothing rubbing against the skin. Or even, the bitten person withdraws the tick, without consulting, when more and more doctors now think fortunately to prescribe an antibiotic treatment, capable of eradicating Borrelia Burgdorferi.

This is why many people get Lyme disease without knowing it. The 12,000 to 15,000 infections identified by the Pasteur Institute could in fact be much more numerous, and explain a whole host of unexplained pathologies in people who complain of fatigue, muscle pain and other symptoms that doctors do not know. not necessarily associated with Lyme disease.

Lyme: A time bomb on a global level?

As a result, Lyme disease is presented by some as a time bomb worldwide, a pandemic of unprecedented and unsuspected scope. In fact, around twenty variants of Borrelia Burgdorferi exist, and not all of them are detected by current tests, when a recent infection is suspected. Even more annoying: once installed in an organism, Borrelia Burgdorferi mutates and becomes invisible to the host’s immune system, but also to blood tests!

As a result, the diagnosis can sometimes take years, while the disease can easily be eradicated when it is in its primary stage, by taking broad-spectrum antibiotics for eight days.

If you are bitten by one or more ticks, do not just remove it or have it removed on your own, but consult to be prescribed a preventive antibiotic treatment.

Read also: Tick bites: what are the symptoms of Lyme disease?