Ticks of the genus Ixodes, commonly called “deer ticks,” were abundant in the forests of eastern Connecticut and surrounding areas. In the early 1980s, a microbiologist named Willy Burgdorfer found a new bacterium in the guts of some Ixodes ticks, a likely suspect as the causative agent. It was a spirochete, a long spiral form, closely resembling other spirochetes of the genus Borrelia. After further research confirmed its role in the arthritis-like syndrome, that bacterium was named Borrelia burgdorferi in honor of its principal discoverer. Lyme disease is now the most common tick-borne
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