Essay On Lyme Disease

Recent research results suggest that ticks must remain attached to a human for 36-48 hours to efficiently transmit B. burgdorferi so early recognition and removal can be effective in preventing Lyme disease (Cook, 2015). Thus, nymphs represent the greatest risk for infection and have been implicated as the vector in the majority of Lyme disease cases in the United States. Although adults can transmit the disease, nymphs, which are about the size of a poppy seed, are relatively undetectable and significantly less likely to be removed within 48 hours of attachment. As a result, most new cases of Lyme disease occur in the summer months between May and August when nymph activity reaches its peak (Marques,

Your chances of acquiring Lyme disease can be greatly affected by where you live or travel to. Many outdoor activities put you at risk. Since deer ticks feed on mice and white-tailed deer, they are most commonly found in heavily wooded areas. Another risk factor of Lyme disease is having exposed skin. Since ticks attach easily to bare skin, being exposed in wooded or grassy areas will increase your risk. If you are bitten by a tick, the final chance of prevention is to remove the tick quickly and properly. In most cases, to infect it’s host, a tick must remain attached to the skin for at least thirty-six hours. If you safely remove the tick

“Lyme disease got its name from where it was first discovered in Lyme, Connecticut in 1975” (healthychildren.org). “Since then there has been thousands of cases reported of the disease. The ticks live in low and high seasonal temperatures and high humidity” (healthychildren.org). Lyme Disease most common to occur in the Northeast, North-central states, or West Coast. On behalf of the Northeast, I can tell you that ticks are everywhere in this region. They like to live in tall grasses and woody areas. “The small insects more than often latch onto the foot or lower leg and crawl up the body, and travel up the body with a destination of the head. On their normal hosts, ticks also usually crawl up; they want to blood feed around the

Lyme disease is an infection produced by bacteria called Borrelia Burgdorferi. This bacteria or germ is ordinarily found in shrews, deer, mice, and squirrels. Ixodes bugs, normally called deer ticks, often feed on the blood from an infected animal. When this happens, the tick then becomes a carrier of the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and can infect you with this germ through your skin. Infected deer ticks are normally found in the northeast and upper Midwest United States because of the climate and humidity levels, and become more active in the late spring and early summer months after the birth of new larvae. Lyme disease is known to cause a skin rash called erythema migrans and can leave you problems with your joints, brain, heart, and nerves. The

They contract it when feeding on infected hosts. While deer are most commonly known for giving Lyme disease to ticks, rodents are the main threat. “Ostfeld’s research indicates that white-footed mice infect 75-95 percent of larval ticks that feed on them, while deer only infect about one percent” (Mercola). Urban sprawl and hunting has eliminated many of the mice’s natural predators allowing populations to grow and infected ticks to spread.

Lyme disease is transmitted to humans from a natural reservoir (rodents and deer) by ticks that feed on both sets of hosts. Most infections are caused by ticks in the nymphal stage. Ticks in this stage

According to Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt (a world renowned Lyme expert), Lyme disease is considered the plague of the century due to the large number of people with chronic Lyme disease and the associated co-infections. The number one symptom of Lyme is chronic fatigue. People can have Lyme for a very long time and not be properly diagnosed because current laboratory testing comes up short with being able to detect it. One of the main reasons for this is because chronic Lyme does not live in the blood but rather in the tissues. It is an intracellular organism meaning it lives inside the cell. Lyme has different shapes: spirochete (like a spring), cyst with a hard shell, and acellular (without an outer cell membrane). Lyme likes to set up a sanctuary in the body such as in the brain, teeth (such as under a root canal or in a cavitation), vertebrae, breast tissue, and lymph nodes. It looks for a place where it can be protected and the body is vulnerable preferably in fatty tissue or under a biofilm. While traditionally Lyme disease is considered a tick-borne disease, recent findings have discovered that it is an insect-borne disease that can get transferred

Thesis Statement: “According to the Center of Disease Control, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vector borne illness in the United States”(Lyme Disease: Data and statistics, 2016).

A survey was composed to try to understand whether living around wooded areas could increase susceptibility towards getting Lyme Disease, whether owning outdoor pets was a risk towards getting Lyme Disease, and finally, what type of deer tick preventative measures work best amongst animals. Surveys were collected in two ways: online surveys and telephone surveys. In the end, the results were checked through statistical analysis and proven significant. All the results were posted on the Facebook page.

Ticks must be attached and feeding for thirty-six to forty-eight hours to transmit Lyme disease (Mayo Clinic, 2012). Although adult ticks can transmit Borrelia burgdorferi, most people infected are bitten by nymphs, immature ticks. Both females and males of any age are susceptible to being bitten by ticks, however, it is found that children ages zero to fourteen and adults ages thirty and above have the highest numbers of infection. (CDC, 2013)

(CDC, 2015) Female ticks will die in the spring when her eggs burst from her body. These eggs will litter the forest floor and eventually hatch into 6 legged larvae in the summer. These larva then attach to much smaller mammals, such as field mice or small birds. Ticks spend as long as it takes, usually a few days at most, finding the perfect spot to latch on and begin feeding. The larva feed for a few days or until they are full and eventually drop off the host. With their appetite sated, larval ticks will now prepare for their next stage of life. This occurs over the course of the fall and winter time period as ticks burrow underground to retain warmth. They emerge in the spring, this time as 8 legged nymphs and the feeding cycle begins anew. This is also the period where lyme disease becomes an issue. While feeding on smaller animals, ticks contract the disease and they become carriers. They will transmit the disease as nymphs. Like the larvae, a nymph attaches to a larger mammal ranging from squirrels to human beings. Over the course of a few days, the nymph finds a spot to attach and feed. This happens over Spring and Summer. If they wait too long, the nymph will die of starvation. When sated once again, the nymph falls to the forest floor and prepares one more to proceed to the next stage of life. By Autumn, nymphs will have grown into adults. This is one of the more important stages simply because reproduction can now occur. Females will find a host in order to feed. Males find a host and a suitable mate. The male, once a mate is found, will fertilize as many females as it possibly can before dying. The females will continue to feed until they are full and eventually drop off. Once she is ready to lay eggs in the spring, her body will burst and the eggs distribute along the forest floor as the cycle begins

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection caused by a spirochete, a corkscrew-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgodorferi. Lyme disease is primarily transmitted through tick bites, there has been no reported cases of human to human transfer of Lyme disease. Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks are the typical carriers of the Lyme disease. The ticks can most primarily be found in wooded and grassy areas. Due to the fact these ticks are only the size of a poppy seed they usually go undetected when they bite. Once the tick is attached to the skin it can feed for several days; the longer the tick is attached the more likely Lyme disease will be transmitted. Lyme disease can affect any organ of the body including the brain, nervous system, muscles, joints, and even the heart. In some cases, if a pregnant woman develops Lyme disease it can pass on to the unborn child and in some cases stillbirth has occurred due to the disease.

A well-known disease in the United States is Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by deer ticks that are infected with the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. In the early 1970s a group of children and adults in Lyme, Connecticut, and the surrounding areas were suffering from some puzzling and debilitating health issues. Finally, by the mid-70s, researchers began describing the signs and symptoms of this new disease. They called it Lyme, but they still didn’t know what caused it (History of Lyme Disease | Bay Area Lyme Foundation. n.d.). In the 1980’s, it was discovered that the bacteria came from deer ticks. Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention estimate that 300,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme disease in

It is popular opinion that lowering the amount of deer in an area will lower the amount of adult deer ticks in that said area, thus lowering the incidence of Lyme disease. Like perennial grass weeds and problems, attacking the root of the concern best alleviates Lyme disease. The root is not the adult blacklegged deer tick known as Ixodes scapularis but the density of infected nymphal ticks, according to Ostfeld. In laboratory conditions, ticks experience high mortality rates in low humidity and high temperature settings. This led to the postulate that temperature plays a significant role in determining future densities of nymphal (smaller and sexually immature) ticks

Ticks can become infected if they are feed in small animals. The disease are spread when an infected tick bites a person and stay