Jonathan and Chris speak to Dr. Andrea Love, a microbiologist, immunologist, science communicator, and the director of the American Lyme Disease Foundation. The tick-borne illness known as Lyme disease is everywhere: on the news, on social media… but is it really near you? Dr. Love separates facts from fiction when it comes to Lyme disease, both the acute infection and the alleged chronic condition.

Correction (2024/07/24): Dr. Love wanted to correct a statement she made. She said that tick-borne relapsing fever does not occur in the U.S., but she meant that it did not occur in the eastern U.S. It does occur in western U.S. states but is caused by a different Borrelia species and spread by different ticks, so there is no overlap with Lyme disease. 

* Theme music: “Fall of the Ocean Queen“ by Joseph Hackl.

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1) Andrea Love’s Substack, Immunologic: https://www.immunologic.org

2) American Lyme Disease Foundation website: https://aldf.com