We now have more than 30 years of solid, scientific research about Lyme disease, a relatively common, vector-borne illness in parts of the United States and of Europe. Although there is still widespread misunderstanding of and misinformation about the disease among the lay public, its clinical manifestations as well as how to diagnose and to treat it are now well understood. In the vast majority of cases simple treatment with a relatively short course of orally administered antimicrobials results in long-term cure with no adverse sequelae.