Suggested reading- Lyme Disease information at www.mayoclinic.com

Early effects may vary, leading the victim and his doctor to mis-diagnosis.
If not caught early, intravenous antibiotic treatment may be necessary. Symptoms may last months or even years after treatment, and some experts are of the opinion that an autoimmune response may be triggered.

The truth is that many doctors simply do not have specific knowledge about the disease- a person with late symptoms such as joint pains could be suffering from many other causes, and the average medical practitioner is unable to run them all down in a month of Sundays and still have time to attend other patients.

Expensive, but the best way to get a proper diagnosis or recommended treatment for a condition that your doctor can't help is to go to a clinic such as the Mayo with many specialists who can run multiple tests and come to a reasonable conclusion.

Blaming insurance companies, poisons in the air or whatever other whipping boy comes to mind, doesn't contribute to a solution.