Lyme disease is known to wreck lives and strike when people least expect it. Transmitted from ticks, it can take years to diagnose, leaving people suffering painful symptoms doctors are unable to explain. The oldest known case was discovered in the Copper age and it is now one of the fastest-growing diseases in the Western world.  Here, Dr Hany Elsheikha, associate professor of parasitology at the University of Nottingham, explains how a microbe from the Copper age could wreck your life.

From avoiding tick-ridden areas to seeking medical help immediately, below, he reveals exactly what you can do to protect yourself. On any ranked list of nasty diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, ticks and fleas in the Western world, Borrelia burgdorferi, would have to lie near the top.  These bacteria cause Lyme disease, which was first recognised in the US in the early 1970s among patients in Lyme, Connecticut. FULL REPORT