Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in Europe, but is under-reported in the UK. Elizabeth Murray and Susan Crook tell us what practice nurses need to know about identifying and treating it Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by the spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi, transmitted via the bite of an infected tick. It is named after Old Lyme in Connecticut USA, where, in the mid-1970s, a cluster of residents presented with unusual symptoms.