For decades, chronic Lyme disease has been one of the most controversial diagnoses in medicine, with some doctors dismissing the idea that people can experience long-term symptoms after a tick bite and others suggesting these debilitating health issues are psychological. When Long COVID—another condition characterized by chronic symptoms after what “should” be an acute illness—started to gain prominence in 2020, I wondered if researchers and physicians would soon take a second look at chronic Lyme.

Now, it looks like that’s finally happening, providing some much-needed hope to a patient community that has long lived without it.