I’m beginning to wonder whether all the friends and relatives who visited us in America, 30 years ago now, all caught Lyme and/or coinfections at the same time as me and my mum. They almost all have very serious auto-immune conditions, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis, through multiple sclerosis and sarcoidosis. Maybe I’m just seeing Lyme everywhere now, but it is a strangely high rate of ‘auto-immune’ illness amongst a bunch of unrelated people.