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Lyme Disease
 Summer: school graduation, vacation, parades, and Lyme
disease. What? Lyme disease? Yes, in some parts of the U.S.,
Lyme disease may be on people's minds as the weather warms up and people
spend more time out of doors. What exactly is Lyme disease? How can you
avoid getting it? Let's take a closer look at this disease. |
- What is Lyme
Disease?
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-
 Lyme
disease was first discovered in 1975 after a mysterious outbreak of
arthritis in children who lived near Lyme, Connecticut. Lyme disease
is an infectious disease (a disease caused by an outside agent) that
affects the skin first, then the joints, the nervous system and, if
untreated, eventually other organs.
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- What causes Lyme
Disease?
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-
 Many people think
that Lyme disease is caused by ticks. However, it is actually a disease
caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. The bacteria
is transmitted to humans via tick bites, so people associate ticks
with Lyme disease. This way of disease transmission is a classic example
of parasitology involving several organisms:
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1. The
bacterium Borrelia
burgdorferi.
These bacteria are found in the wild in white- footed
mice and deer.
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2. Mice and deer. These animals are bitten by juvenile
(immature) deer ticks or Western black-legged
ticks. The primary types of ticks that carry Lyme disease
are the Ixodes scapularis (black-legged
tick) and Ixodes pacificus (Western
black-legged tick). Even when the tick leaves
the deer or mouse, the bacteria stay in the
bodies of the tick.
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3. The ticks, Ixodes scapularis
(black-legged tick) and Ixodes pacificus (Western
black-legged tick).
The ticks can attach themselves to humans and
bite them. The ticks can then transmit
the bacteria to the human.
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- How common is
Lyme Disease?
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 According
to the American Lyme Disease Foundation and the U.S. Center
for Disease Control (CDC), Lyme Disease is the most common arthropod-borne
disease in the U.S. More than 100,000 cases
have been reported since1982.
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Data from the CDC.
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What
are the symptoms of Lyme disease?
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Lyme
disease is rather difficult to diagnose because many of its symptoms
can occur with other diseases. Typically the first and most distinctive
symptom of Lyme Disease is an expanding rash which usually radiates
from the site of the tick bite. The rash usually appears 1-2 weeks
after the tick bite. It may be accompanied by joint pains or general
achiness, chills, fever and headache. Later there may be other rashes,
a stiff neck, facial palsy similar to Bell's palsy, tingling
or numbness in the extremities, headache, sore throat and severe
fatigue. In the late stage of untreated Lyme disease, people may
experience arthritis (pain/swelling) of one or two large joints,
disabling neurological disorders such as disorientation, short term
memory loss, mental "fog" and numbness in the hands or
feet.
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- What can you
do to protect yourself from the disease?
-
 If
you live in or will be visiting an area where the bacterium Borrelia
burgdorferi is found in wild animals, it is wise to take precautions
against tick bites. Deer ticks like to hide in dark shady places such
as moist ground litter in or near forests. They cannot jump or fly,
but crawl onto the skin of a potential host. Once they are on the
skin, they crawl up to dark protected areas such as the back of the
knee, the neck, armpits, ears, etc. They then begin to pierce the
skin of the host until they find a blood supply.
- The best protection against
Lyme disease is to avoid areas where ticks live and to check yourself
for ticks after you have been outside. The good news is that even
if you find a tick, if you remove it correctly before it has been
there 24-36 hours (and its body is engorged with blood), you can greatly
reduce your chances of getting the disease. According to the FDA
and CDC, the best way to remove the tick is to use tweezers.
Grasp the tick by its mouthparts where it enters your skin and pull
steadily outward. DO NOT just squeeze the tick's
body. Quick jerking motions and irritants may cause the head of the
tick to stay inside your skin. Therefore, Lyme disease could be transmitted
even after the tick's body has been removed.
- If you do come down with
some of the symptoms, especially if you live in an area where there
is not known to be a wild population of Borrelia burgdorferi,
it would be wise to talk to your physician. Let him or her know where
you have been travelling and what outdoor activities you have taken
part in.
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- How is Lyme
Disease treated?
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- The good news
is that if diagnosed early, Lyme disease can usually be treated
easily and cured with antibiotics.
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- Is there a
vaccine for Lyme Disease?
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-
 On
December 21, 1998, the FDA approved a vaccine for Lyme disease.
The FDA does not approve any medicine for sale in the U.S. unless
it has been shown by research to be 1) safe and 2)helpful in treating
the ailment it is supposed to treat. However, it will be interesting
to see the results after thousands of people, not just the subjects
of the research studies, use the vaccine. For people who live
in areas where Borrelia burgdorferi and deer ticks are
common, it will be nice to have the vaccine available.
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Still,
watch out for those ticks!
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- Did
you know?
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- Borrelia burgdorferi was named after its discoverer,
Willy Burgdorfer. Brugdorfer reported in 1982 that a spirochete,
a type of bacteria, found in ticks of the Ixodes genus
was probably responsible for Lyme disease.
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Information supplied
by http://www.faculty.washington.edu
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