# Is lyme disease similar to polio?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 5, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855 "2015-04-05T02:26:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855/1 "2015-04-05T02:26:48Z")

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Do you think the two diseases are related or at least present similarly?

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**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855/2 "2015-04-05T02:39:09Z")

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Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium, polio is caused by a virus, so they aren’t in any way related.

Lyme disease presents first with a rash, then with pains in the joints. Polio presents with a headache and fever, then stiffness in the neck, pain in the arms and legs, leading to muscle weakness. Not all that similar.

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**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855/3 "2015-04-05T03:01:15Z")

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No

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**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2015, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-lyme-disease-similar-to-polio/716855/4 "2015-04-05T12:11:19Z")

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Joint pain occurs with many bacterial infections, why link it with polio ?  
Lyme disease may be misdiagnosed, or at least, the exact bacteria to blame may well vary from that found so far…