Borrelia Burgdorferi Case Study

B. burgdorferi is injected into the skin by the bite of an infected tick. Saliva from the tick that enters the skin upon the bite contains not only the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, but substances that prevent an immune response from being carried out at the site. This provides a protective environment where the spirochete can establish infection (CITE).

Chronic Lyme disease specialists’ asserts that for some the Borrelia bacteria has become more prevalent. “If untreated, infection can spread to the joints, heart and nervous system, causing a large variety of symptoms which may persist over months or years” (Melisa) Additionally, when the bacteria is able to spread like this, according to medical officials that agree with Chronic Lyme diseases existence, if left untreated bacterial persistence can occur. When this happens treating the bacteria becomes a much harder and longer process. This viewpoint however is so divisive because the body that decides medical treatment of diseases of this class, the Infectious Disease Society of America, claims that Chronic Lyme doesn’t exist. Today many doctors shy away from the topic as those who support the existence of Chronic Lyme and try to treat patients risk losing the medical license. While this argument is riddled with claims of conflict of interest and fear mongering I believe taking care of the patient’s well being is paramount and that more care should be allotted to Chronic Lyme by American medicine as evidence points to the existence of Chronic Lyme.

Lyme disease has been identified as an infection surrounded by complications, starting from its discovery to diagnosis. The Lyme infection was discovered first during the mid-1970, following the attribution of juvenile arthritis outbreak to this disease near Old Lyme, Connecticut. The naming of the disease was established in 1977, although the complications of the causative agent lasted an additional five years, after which medical scientists identified the deer tick midgut Borrelia burgdorferi spirochete as the supposed causative agent (Lyme Research Alliance, n.d.).

Yale scientist Allen Steere is credited as being the first to recognize, name, characterize and treat the affliction that became known as Lyme Disease. The disease was named after the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut, where an outbreak of arthritis and juvenile arthritis led two women to seek assistance of medical professionals. Steere was particularly interested in rheumatology. Once he learned about multiple cases of affected patients displaying similar symptoms to those of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, he immediately questioned the diagnosis. He decided to conduct a phone survey among other young affected patients. Upon collecting data, he noticed that these symptoms were also accompanied by a red circular rash. He concluded that the above health issue was caused by an infectious agent (Yannielli & Alcamo, 2004, p. 18). Since the city of Old Lyme was established near the Connecticut River, Steere, along with other scientists, initially suspected that the drinking water might have contained an infectious agent. However, he soon realized that his hypothesis was not true, since not every member of a family was experiencing the symptoms. Further research found that most cases occurred between spring and summer. He later recalled that some patients reported a tick attachment prior to the

The Bubonic Plague is a vector-bourne illness, meaning, it requires a living host to carry it from one animal to another. For the vast majority of the time, this vector is a specific species of flea called the Xenopsylla cheopis, or the oriental rat flea (NLM, 2015). These fleas become vectors and infected with bacteria by plague-ridden rodents and small animals, which are then passed onto humans through flea bites to the new host’s outer extremities (A.D.A.M, 2015). Though the Bubonic plague is rarely spread from person to person, there have been outbreaks of pneumonic plague (infection of the lungs, rather than the lymphatic system) that were a result of human-to-human infection. This occurred when the bacteria was passed through an airborne vector that directly infected the lungs of a person, which most commonly passed through the nose and mouth.

The most widely recognized vector-borne sickness in the United States is Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a multisystem disease brought on by contamination with the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi and the body's immune reaction to the infection. The disease is transmitted to people by means of tick bites, from infected ticks of the family Ixodes.

Borreliosis, also known as Lyme’s disease, is a disease that is transmitted to humans by blacklegged ticks. The first case of Lyme’s disease was first reported in Old Lyme, CT, hence the name. A tick picks up the virus from biting deer and mice infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. White footed mice are the most common carriers of the disease. The virus is then transferred from tick to human through the bite from an infected tick. Generally the tick must remain attached to the human for 36-48 hours for the bacterium to be transmitted. The best way to prevent this disease is to try and avoid tick bites. You can do this by using repellent on the skin and gear your using, treating your animals with tick medication, shower

Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia Burgdorferi (BB). The tick acquires the virus when it feeds on wild animal hosts such as rodents and birds. Once the tick becomes infected it is able to transmit the BB to other animals and/or humans.

Lyme is a bacteria spread by Zoonosis which occurs when an infectious disease, being embedded in the gut of an animal such as a rodent or queer squirrel, germinates another vector to be spread to other hosts. The disease can then be transferred from that animal to a tick such as a Deer Tick(North America). This tick is known as a vector and searches for a new, larger host. This can range from a deer(most prominent scenario) to even humans. Ticks must take in blood to survive. Ticks lodge themselves into a host 's skin and feed on their blood. While this is taking place the Borreliosis bacteria get in through the bloodstream and can spread to joints, the brain and even the heart.(Portal.mah.harvard.edu)

The Bubonic Plague is a deadly bacteria known as Yersinia Pestis. The bacteria infects the Lymphatic system and it becomes inflamed. The bacteria kills by cutting off a cell’s ability to communicate with other immune system cells. It is the most common form of plague in humans, characterized by fever, delirium, and the formation of buboes. It is a rare but serious bacterial infection transmitted usually from a flea feeding on an infected rodent that intern becomes infected and bites a human thereby transmitting the rodents blood.

Abstract: Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus are the two species of blacklegged ticks that act as vectors of transmission of the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi to small mammals or human host, which cause Lyme disease in humans, also known as Lyme borreliosis (cdc.gov 2016; Qiu et al. 2002). After the pathogen’s initial entry through the skin, it proliferates in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid; Borrelia burgdorferi has also been seen in much smaller quantities in the following locations: ‘myocardium, retina, muscle, bone, spleen, liver, meninges, and brain’, which is the primary cause of more severe secondary symptoms of untreated infection (cdc.gov 2016; Steere 2004).

One hypothesis is that since it is so easy to transmit to animals this may be why so many people have gotten BU.

In order to show how the disease is contracted, I would reference a map of the United States and review the most common areas for Lyme disease occurrence. I would proceed to discuss various outdoor activities, which would allow the students to understand that Lyme disease can be picked up during virtually any activity at the most

Lyme disease is typically caused by the spirochete bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, but can also be caused by different strains of the Borrelia bacterium such as B. afzelii or B. garinii. It is a zoonotic pathogen that uses ticks as vectors. The bacteria uses its vector to multiply within and is transferred to the host’s blood through a bite that breaks the skin. The most common vector of the disease within the united States is the Ixodes scapularis, colloquially known as the blacklegged tick or the deer tick. They are not the only vectors though, as fleas, mosquitos, biting flies and the lone star tick have also been proven to carry and transmit this disease. Each of these vectors contracts the disease from a reservoir, which are all living

The highly contagious B. pertussis is a strictly aerobic gram-negative coccobacillus that grows best between 35-37 ºC, and is transmitted through inhalation of aerosol droplets. It is one of ten known Bordetella species, and accounts for 50 million cases annually, in which 300,000 of them result in death. (1-3)