LYME DISEASE

[Lyme disease] n [Lyme, Connecticut, where it was first reported] (1980): an acute inflammatory disease that is caused by a spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi) transmitted by ticks (genus Ixodes and esp. I. dammini), that is often characterized initially by a spreading red annular skin lesion at the site of the infection, fever, and chills, and that may result in joint pain, arthritis, and cardiac and neurological disorders