Singer Justin Bieber confessed on Instagram to having Lyme disease and suffering from chronic mononucleosis. We explain what it is.
Justin Bieber announced on instagram to have Lyme disease in response to a number of detractors who criticized his physique: “I was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease and in addition I also have a serious case of chronic mononucleosis which affects my skin, my neurological functions, my energy and my health in general,” he wrote. The 25-year-old singer says everything he’s “fought and overcome” will be explained in a series of documentaries coming soon to YouTube. “It’s been a tough few years but getting the right treatment for this incurable disease will help, and I’ll be back better than ever,” he said.
Lyme disease
But what is Lyme disease from which the singer suffers? Consecutive to the transmission of a bacterium during a tick bite (not all are infected with this bacterium), Lyme disease is a pathology of infectious origin which is manifested by chronic and disabling diffuse pain, which can eventually lead to neurological disorders and facial paralysis.
It may appear within 30 days after the bite, first as a round, red patch that extends in a circle (erythema migrans) from the bite area. The lesion of the skin can be accompanied by muscle and joint pain, or fever. With early treatment, it disappears within a few weeks to a few months. The symptoms are multiple: joint pain, tremors and neurological disorders, memory loss, depression.
In the absence of treatment, progression to the secondary phase is not systematic, but worsens the prognosis: the infection can become chronic and spread from the skin to the whole body, which may explain the criticisms regarding Justin Bieber’s physique.
Mononucleosis
Infectious mononucleosis is sometimes commonly called “kissing disease” or “fiancés disease”. These names are due to the fact that the responsible virus is transmitted through saliva. It mostly affects people in early childhood or early adulthood and is caused by infection with the EBV virus (Epstein-Barr Virus). The term mononucleosis syndrome refers to an anomaly in the blood test at the level of the white blood cells. This is a significant increase in lymphocytes, a type of white blood cells responsible for immune defences, some of which have shape abnormalities.
Although it is generally benign, there are on the other hand, very rarely, patients who, after an acute infection with EBV, have an immune system which is not able to put an end to the replication of the EBV virus. These patients therefore develop a chronic active EBV infection, as seems to be the case for Justin Bieber.
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