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Lyme disease - chronic persistent

• Overview
• Symptoms
• Treatment
• Prevention

Alternative Names:

Tertiary Lyme disease; Stage 3 Lyme disease; Late persistent Lyme disease; Chronic Lyme disease

Symptoms:

• joint inflammation in the knees and other large joints
• chronic arthritis
• memory loss
• mood changes
• sleep disorders

Additional symptoms that may be associated with this disease:

• numbness and tingling
• consciousness, decreased
• confusion
• abnormal sensitivity to light

Signs and tests:

• An ELISA shows antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi . A Western blot test is done to confirm ELISA results.
• A spinal tap will be abnormal if central nervous signs are present.

• Review Date: 2/13/2006
• Reviewed By: Monica Gandhi, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, UCSF, San Francisco, CA. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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