The dangers of lyme disease

CNN
Ajay Kuntamukkala was always active. So at age 30, when he started to get severe pains in his knees, he went to the doctor. A blood test found he had lyme disease.

He said, "Actually I have no idea when I was bit. I didn't notice the early symptoms. It could have been years ago. I had late stage symptoms of inflammation of my joints."

Lyme disease is passed to humans from the deer tick -- it's a tiny tick that's the size of a pencil dot. The disease can be debilitating if not caught in time. The traditional symptom is a red bullseye bite mark that grows larger as the disease invades the body. But in many cases people don't catch it because ticks bite in places where red marks go unnoticed, or they don't get the rash.

Dr. Arthur Weinstein of the Washington Hospital Center said, "All they do is get a bite or flu like symptoms, fever, muscle aches and pains, joint aches and pains."

Symptoms may also include fatigue and delirium. Even when the rash goes away, the disease stays in the body . If left untreated it can cause serious health problems.

Dr. Weinstein said, "It can go to the central nervous system, which is quiet serious. So you can get meningitis, you can get a facial palsy just like a bell's palsy, which is a paralysis to the face. It can go to the joints."