Tick Boom

A Biography of Lyme Disease, the Growing Epidemic Lurking in Plain Sight

By: Amanda M. Fairbanks

At once a breathtaking work of investigative journalism and a searing memoir, Tick Boom tells the comprehensive story of a disease that hides in plain sight, but plagues many: Lyme disease.

Amanda M. Fairbanks could barely read the words in front of her. She could not remember what she was meant to be typing, and for the life of her, could not imagine how she’d written anything before. She felt she had little grasp on anything at that moment except for one thing: she was sick. Months would go by with her condition only worsening until finally one healthcare provider saw what all of the others had missed. She was exhibiting all the systems of Lyme disease. Though the diagnosis was hard-won, Amanda is hardly alone in her experience. Over 500,000 Americans receive a Lyme diagnosis every year. But even with these staggering numbers, in the fifty years since the discovery of Lyme disease, little progress has been made.

Weaving rigorous, boots-on-the-ground journalism alongside carefully selected patient narratives Tick Boom reveals searing, intimate portraits of how Lyme disease upends lives and careers, and how it reverberates through families and marriages. At once an urgent medical investigation and an intimate portrait of those suffering in silence, Tick Boom illuminates an emerging health crisis, and what's at stake if we don't stop it. Through case studies and interviews with researchers, historians, scientists, and physicians, Fairbanks illuminates how formerly healthy people find themselves suddenly bedridden consumed by illness.