Lyme Disease
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Lyme disease isthe result of infection with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.The disease is transmitted by infected ticks that also feed onmice and deer.The tick can be found attached to the skin in many cases. Most cases of Lyme disease occur in the spring and summer months.The tick bite is rarely painful, so after any exposure to wooded or grassy areas, it is a good idea to do a “tick check,” looking for any small black speck that may bea tick still attached to the skin. 45
Lyme disease (LD) is a multi-stage, multi-system bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, a spiral shaped bacterium that is most commonly transmitted by a tick bite. The disease takes its name from Lyme, Connecticut, where the illness was first identified in the United States in 1975. 49
Lyme disease is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi which belongs to the spirochete family of bacteria. This bacterium lives inside certain ticks (the deer tick in the Northeast and Upper Midwest) and can be spread to humans by the bite of an infected tick. 44
Lyme disease is spread through tick bites. The deer ticks that transmit the Lyme disease bacterium become infected when the immature stage of the tick feeds on infected field mice. When the tick feeds again, the infection can be transmitted to the tick’s new host - often, a human. The tick must actually be attached to a person’s skin for about 24 hours before it can transmit the bacterium. The bite of the tick is usually painless, making it more difficult to detect. That’s why it’s important to do a thorough body check for ticks after being in areas where ticks are likely to live. 6
Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia Burgdorferi, an elongated, spiral-shaped bacteria transmitted to humans through the bite of a tick. Known as spirochetes, these bacteria are unusual, not well studied, elusive and difficult to cultivate in the laboratory, and capable of advanced survival activities more commonly found in larger, more intelligent organisms. 50
Victims frequently are not aware that they have been bitten, partly because the ticks carrying Lyme disease are so tiny. A larval tick is the size of a poppy seed, and an adult tick is only as big as the head of a pin. There is, however, a classic symptom: a bull’s-eye rash of concentric red circles at the site of the bite. The bite is usually on the arms or legs of an adult, but it could be anywhere on he body, and with children it can often be on the hairline or scalp, where it is difficult to see. 11
Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted by a tick bite. The disease can be difficult to diagnose. It often starts with a large red rash at the site of the tick bite, followed by flu-like symptoms and fatigue. Early in the course of the disease, the symptoms often may go unnoticed or be mistaken for the flu, and not all persons develop the same symptoms. To further complicate matters, the symptoms of the disease mimic those of other diseases, so even persons who complain of flu-like symptoms and fatigue can have any number of conditions other than Lyme disease. 34
A history of a known tick bite will help the doctor to know if Lyme disease caused the current symptoms. However, many people with Lyme disease do not remember being bitten by a tick. Deer ticks (picture) and western black-legged ticks are tiny and often go unnoticed. 21
Lyme disease is a bacterial illness caused by a bacterium called a “spirochete.” In the United States, the actual name of the bacterium is Borrelia burgdorferi. In Europe, another bacterium, Borrelia afzelii, also causes Lyme disease. Certain ticks found on deer harbor the bacterium in their stomachs. Lyme disease is spread by these ticks when they bite the skin, which permits the bacterium to infect the body. Lyme disease is not contagious from an affected person to someone else. Lyme disease can cause abnormalities in the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system. 1
Lyme disease is an infection caused by a kind of bacteria (germ) called a spirochete (say: “spy-ro-keet”). The disease is carried by deer ticks and western black-legged ticks (found mostly on the Pacific Coast). These ticks can spread the disease to animals and humans through tick bites. These ticks are about the size of a sesame seed. 8
The most common carrier of Lyme disease in the United States is the deer tick (so named for its dependency on deer to reach the adult stage of its complex, two-year life cycle), or black-legged tick. The Western black-legged deer tick also transmits Lyme disease along the coasts of northern California, Oregon and Washington. 35
Animals can be protected from Lyme disease by using commercial insect and tick repellants. Flea collars are not as effective as powders and dips. On larger animals, use commercial insect and tick repellants made specifically for them. 13
According to CDC, ticks are usually in the nymph stage (between larva and adult) when they transmit Lyme disease to humans. Approximately the size of a poppy seed, the nymphs are most active between May and July. The spiral-shaped Lyme-causing bacterium, B. burgdorferi, enters the skin at the site of a bite and migrates until it penetrates the bloodstream. It usually takes at least 36 hours following a tick bite for the bacterium to be transmitted, so early removal of attached ticks is very important. 35
Let the math tell the story: 200,000 new Lyme Disease cases per year multiplied by 20% results in 40,000 cases of chronic Lyme Disease per year! Given that most people with chronic Lyme Disease are not successfully diagnosed and treated, the total number of people in the United States with chronic Lyme Disease continues to grow. How many people currently have chronic Lyme Disease? No one really knows, but the number may be quite high―500,000? 50
In some cases, the bull’s-eye rash never forms. In the absence of the rash, doctors must rely on other symptoms combined with an assessment of someone’s likelihood of exposure to an infected tick. Blood tests can help diagnose Lyme disease by detecting the presence of antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in the patient’s blood. However, blood tests can give inaccurate results if done within a month after initial infection, since it takes time for the antibodies to develop. Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose because it may resemble many other medical conditions. Your doctor can help to decide whether your child needs a blood test for Lyme disease. 28
References
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