“Coronation Street” is a popular British TV soap opera. Next week, one of its characters is diagnosed with Lyme disease.

Here’s more from the website of Lyme Disease UK:

Some months ago we were approached by the research team from the popular soap opera Coronation Street about a possible story line featuring a child who contracts Lyme disease.

Julia Knight, our Press and Community Outreach Manager, worked with the researchers to put together a credible story line, resulting in the recent story about Joseph Brown, age 12, son of Chesney, contracting the infection during a camping trip.

Next week, Joseph’s mysterious illness is diagnosed as Lyme disease. After weeks of worry, trips to the doctors and his step-mum, Gemma being removed from the house by social services under suspicion of deliberately poisoning the youngster, things take a dramatic turn when he collapses at home.

Joseph is rushed to hospital where doctors tell his worried parents and grandparents that he has Lyme disease, probably contracted from a tick bite whilst on a camping holiday.

Julia says “It has been my great pleasure to work with the Coronation Street script writers to give them advice and pointers so that they could produce a story line that is both realistic and engaging. Lyme disease can easily be overlooked if a person only shows viral-type symptoms initially, as in the storyline.

“Raising awareness of the disease and giving people the information about how to prevent it is essential. With knowledge, bites can be prevented, and awareness of possible symptoms means that people who do contract the disease can seek medical advice promptly.”

How to watch “Coronation Street” in the US

The streaming channel BritBox offers Coronation Street and other British shows as soon as they have aired in the UK. You can access it through Amazon Prime (though you’ll have to pay extra for the service).

If you have Hulu, you can watch episodes of Coronation Street for free. But you’ll have to wait until two weeks after they have aired in the UK.

Kudos to Lyme Disease UK for taking their Lyme Awareness activities to a new level. I’m looking forward to watching the show.

TOUCHED BY LYME is written by Dorothy Kupcha Leland, President of LymeDisease.org. She is co-author of Finding Resilience: A Teen’s Journey Through Lyme Disease and of When Your Child Has Lyme Disease: A Parent’s Survival Guide. Contact her at dleland@lymedisease.org.