Supermodel Bella Hadid Battling With Lyme Disease: Learn More About This Tick-Borne Disease

You may be living with Lyme disease for weeks, months, or even years without realizing it, because the infection can be asymptomatic in some people.

Supermodel Bella Hadid recently revealed that she has been suffering from Lyme Disease for the past 15 years. The 26-year-old has been using her social media platforms to make her fans aware of the vector-borne illness.

In some patients, the infection can be asymptomatic, meaning they have the disease but never developed symptoms. So, there is a possibility that you have been infected with the Lyme bacteria and have been living with the disease for weeks, months, or even years without realizing it.

Dr Monalisa Sahu, Consultant Infectious Diseases, Yashoda Hospitals Hyderabad, sheds light on the condition that supermodel Bella Hadid is battling with.

Causes and symptoms of Lyme disease

Lyme disease is a vector-borne disease transmitted by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks, infected with bacterium Borrelia burgdorfei. It is more common in the North America and United States.

Early in the disease, the patients present with symptoms of fever, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches and a characteristic skin rash at the site of tick bite called erythema migrans.

This typical rash is seen in 70-80 per cent of the patients and seen in the early part of the disease, about a week to a month after the tick bite. The rash has a typical bull’s eye appearance.

If left untreated, infection can spread to joints, the heart, and the nervous system, manifesting as bone and joint pains, irregular heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath. They can also have numbness and tingling in hands and feet and shooting pains.

Early diagnosis needs to be done on clinical suspicion of signs and symptoms, and chances of exposure to ticks. Laboratory tests are available for diagnosis of Lyme disease.

Treatment of Lyme disease

The disease is treatable with antibiotics early in the course of the disease, but some patients can continue to experience symptoms such as pain, fatigue, or difficulty thinking, fogging of thoughts for more than 6 months after the completion of the treatment. This condition is called Post-Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS).

The proposed theory for PTLDS is the triggering of auto-immune responses after infection.

How to prevent Lyme disease

The best way to prevent the disease is to avoid tick bites by wearing full sleeves clothes and using insect repellants while going to areas with chances of exposure to ticks. In case of suspicion of tick bites, approach the physician early for an appropriate diagnosis and treatment.

Bella Hadid posted her medical records revealing her almost 15 years of “invisible suffering”.