The discovery of Lyme disease

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In 1975, a mysterious outbreak of illness struck children in the United States, triggering a medical breakthrough. Prof Allen Steere uncovered a bacterial infection which was spread by blood‑sucking ticks. It was formally identified for the first time and would go on to be named Lyme disease, after the town where it first emerged. He speaks to Reena Stanton-Sharma about what led to the discovery. Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by and curious about the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from how the Excel spreadsheet was developed, the creation of cartoon rabbit Miffy and how the sound barrier was broken. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: the moment Reagan and Gorbachev met in Geneva, Haitian singer Emerante de Pradines’ life and Omar Sharif’s legendary movie entrance in Lawrence of Arabia. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, like the invention of a stent which has saved lives around the world; the birth of the G7; and the meeting of Maldives’ ministers underwater. We cover everything from World War Two and Cold War stories to Black History Month and our journeys into space. (Photo: Prof Allen Steere in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital in 2013. Credit: Yoon S. Byun/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)