Lyme Disease - Diagnosis

One problem in diagnosing Lyme disease is that its symptoms are similar to other disorders. The first task facing a doctor is to eliminate other possible explanations for a patient's symptoms. The doctor will perform tests to ensure that the patient does not have chronic fatigue syndrome (see chronic fatigue syndrome entry), multiple sclerosis (see multiple sclerosis entry), or some other disease with symptoms similar to those of Lyme disease.

An important aid in diagnosing Lyme disease is a geographical factor. Currently, Lyme disease occurs much more frequently in some parts of the United States than in others. The disease is quite rare in the Rocky Mountain states, for example, but relatively common in the Northeastern states. A doctor is aided in making a diagnosis if he or she can find out what part of the country the patient was in when he or she was bitten by a tick.