From Justin Bieber who recently admitted to having Lyme, to the Hadids – here are some of the A-listers who suffer from this mysterious tick-borne disease…

In recent years, Lyme disease has increasingly been in the medical spotlight, and you may have heard of it from some of the world’s top celebs. From the Hadid family, Bella, Anwar and mom Yolanda are some of the famous faces who have admitted to suffering from this illness and have openly spoken about the challenges they have faced in their battle against the notorious illness. But what is actually Lyme disease?

The International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) defines Lyme disease as: a bacterial infection caused by several members of the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria and transmitted by the bite of an infected blacklegged tick.

One of its main problems is the symptom diagnosis. Many of the signs it usually shows – joint pain, exhaustion and fatigue – are often mistaken with other health conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia which can lead to a misdiagnosis of the disease. If this happens, the illness can become severe when it’s not diagnosed correctly and can result in chronic Lyme.

However, although it can be cured if diagnosed within the first stages, once it escalates, modern medicine has yet to offer an effective cure for this widespread health condition.

That’s why many celebs who are suffering from it are helping to shine some light on this mysterious illness by speaking openly about their symptoms and the challenges they face when having to live with Lyme.