Many doctors who specialize in treating this disease are convinced now that Bb can be passed from one infected person to another by sexual contact or through the placenta from mother to baby in utero. Even by a mother breastfeeding her baby.
In 2009 it was reported that the then existing 1.8 million cases of Bb cited by the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP) in Atlanta, Georgia had been under-reported by at least ten times.
In the US as at 2011 according to this projection, in actuality over 18 million Lyme disease patients now exist. That is an extraordinary amount of people ill with just Lyme disease (Bb / Neuroborreliosis)
Testing for Lyme can be helpful but is not always reliable. The attending doctor needs to be proficient in reading the reports accurately or 'flase negatives' can happen.
Lyme is primarily a clinical diagnosis based on history and symptoms.