The Board has determined that there is at least an approximate balance of positive and negative evidence regarding the Veteran's claim for service connection for Lyme disease. The Veteran's service records show a positive titer for Lyme disease, and her medical history indicates she had symptoms consistent with this condition during active duty. Therefore, the Board finds in favor of granting service connection for Lyme disease.
The deciding factor: The presence of Lyme disease antibodies present during laboratory testing during the period on appeal cannot satisfactorily be disassociated from the Veteran's active-duty service.
- Claimed conditions
- Lyme disease, facial acne
- How they argued it
- Reopened with new and material evidence
- Exposure basis
- None
- Rating assigned
- None in this decision
- Decision date
- February 7, 2023
- Citation
- 23008047
This is a plain-language summary generated by AI from a public Board of Veterans’ Appeals decision. It can contain errors — always verify against the original. Look up the original decision on VA.gov (opens in a new tab) using citation 23008047.
What this means for you
A grant means the Board agreed the veteran was entitled to the benefit. Decisions like this show the kind of evidence and arguments that tend to succeed for claims like it.
What you can do next
Related decisions
Other Board decisions on a similar condition or argued the same way.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Board has decided to remand the case due to a pre-decisional duty-to-assist error regarding the Veteran's use of retinoids and statements about facial acne scarring. The matter is being returned to the RO for correction.
- Denied
The Board has denied service connection for the claimed conditions, finding that they are not related to active duty service or any period of ACDUTRA/INACDUTRA service. The appellant's claims are based on secondary service connection due to a non-service-connected condition (Lyme disease), but the evidence does not support this claim.
- Granted
The Veteran's Lyme disease is granted as service connected, with evidence linking his symptoms to a tick bite during training in 2013.
- Remanded (sent back)
The Veteran's claims for higher ratings and service connection are being remanded due to the complexity of the issues.,The Veteran is seeking increased ratings for various disabilities, including bilateral plantar fasciitis, a surgical scar, cervical spine disability, left upper extremity radiculopathy, left hip disability, right knee disability, psychiatric disability, right ankle and left ankle disabilities, gastrointestinal disability, vocal cord dysfunction, sinusitis, tinea, and facial acne.
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