Lyme Disease History A Connecticut Perspective
State of Connecticut Department of Public Health
Notes:
Lyme disease is not new. The skin rash of Lyme disease was first described by A
fzelius in Sweden in 1909. Here in Connecticut, the Lyme disease story began in
1975 when unusual arthritis cases were reported from the towns of Lyme and Old
Lyme. That year Dr. Allen Steere and his group at Yale went on to identify 51 c
ases of Lyme arthritis in the Lyme area. In 1977, researchers discovered that t
he deer tick Ixodes dammini transmitted the disease. In 1982, Dr. Burdorfer dis
covered that the disease was caused by a newly recognized spirochete now known a
s Borrelia burdorferi.