Experts issue warning as pervasive disease becomes subject of medical controversy: 'They get really rich off of exploiting vulnerable people'

Canadian doctors have noticed an uptick in misleading and potentially dangerous information about an emerging vector-borne illness, according to CBC News.

What's happening?

While Lyme disease was first identified in 1975, it's still considered an emerging pathogen half a century later.

Medical science is still untangling the scope and impacts of the illness caused by exposure to Borrelia burgdorferi, a bacterium.

CBC cited social media posts from celebrities and influencers such as Bella Hadid, Justin Timberlake, and Justin Bieber about "chronic Lyme disease, a condition that isn't recognized by conventional medicine."

The outlet explained that chronic Lyme disease has become a buzzword in alternative medicine, evolving into a catch-all "diagnosis" for a cluster of vague symptoms.

Medical experts who talked to CBC said that lingering symptoms after treatment for Lyme disease are known as "post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome." 

Fatigue, dizziness, and joint pain are among the symptoms that can persist after treatment for unknown reasons, and experts suspected the confusion potentially stemmed from PTLDS.

Andrea Love, an immunologist and executive director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation, believed unscrupulous alternative health facilities leveraged the poorly understood latter diagnosis to prey on people with chronic subclinical symptoms.

"There is a very lucrative wellness industry that centers around Lyme disease and this idea of this persistent infection. … They get really rich off of exploiting vulnerable people," Love warned.

Why is this concerning?

Celebrities have immense reach on social media, and even well-meaning, innocent posts with inaccurate information about Lyme disease can adversely impact public health.

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"Chronic Lyme disease," which is not recognized as a valid medical condition, can become a distraction from the real and rapidly worsening risks posed by Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is vector-borne, and, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted, it is transmitted from infected deer ticks (also known as black-legged ticks) to humans through bites.

In recent years, studies have observed a sharp uptick in confirmed Lyme disease cases, identifying rising temperatures as the culprit in the United States and Canada. 

As Boston University explained, hotter weather and longer summers mean people in affected areas are at risk for longer periods each year, and these shifting conditions have enabled deer ticks to move into new areas, including cities.

"We have seen more incursion of ticks into urban landscapes," said infectious disease specialist Cassandra Pierre, per BU. "I think that this calls for changing our perception of … the exposure range."

What's being done about it?

Experts who spoke with CBC emphasized the importance of early intervention for cases of Lyme disease and warned that alternative treatments can be expensive and dangerous.

More broadly, public health officials advise avoiding tall grass, wearing clothing that covers arms and legs, and using Environmental Protection Agency-registered pest repellents to reduce the risk of infection.

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