Connecting the Dots to Long GOVID.

• Position: LYME DISEASE

Is there a connection between why some people with Lyme disease and some with COVID-19 experience long-term effects to their central nervous system? Known as neurological Lyme disease (NLD), the condition affects about 10% to 20% of those who contract the infection after being bitten by black-legged deer ticks. Rather than recovering from the disease after receiving treatment, they continue to experience such symptoms as severe headaches, brain fog, facial paralysis, sensitivity to light, and memory loss.

What is learned about the similarities between the long-lasting effects of Lyme disease and COVID-19 could apply to other infectious diseases as well. "There's a lot of interest in this now because of long COVID, but there are probably other infections in which you have a post-infectious syndrome where people have brain fog and fatigue and a constellation of symptoms of not feeling like they're back 100%," says Catherine Brissette, associate professor of biomedical sciences at the University of North Dakota. "We hope our research will help add some clues as to why people have those kinds of things. I actually think it's broader than Lyme...