Lyme Disease : A Common Disease

A person can acquire Lyme disease by the bite of an infected tick. This disease is transmitted by deer ticks or black-legged ticks. Ticks are tiny in size and as their bite is painless, people might not even realize that they have been bitten. Once an infected tick attaches itself to the skin, it is able to transmit the bacteria. This bacteria eventually ends up in the bloodstream. The duration of attachment necessary to transfer

Lyme disease can affect nearly all of our body’s functions in one way or another. According to Lyme expert Dr. Lee Cowden, “Typically, the elimination organs are invaded: Kidneys, bladder, liver, skin and lymph glands. The Borrelia

I chose to do my research paper on Lyme disease. During my research, I found a lot of interesting facts about Lyme disease. The disease is caused by bacteria, called Borrelia burgdorferi, which is only transmitted to humans when they are bitten by an infected tick. Lyme disease was first discovered in 1975, in Lyme, Connecticut, after a group of children were diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. This eventually led them to discover the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease was given its name in 1982, after the town of Lyme, Connecticut. According to Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Lyme disease is the most commonly reported vectorborne illness in the United States. In 2014, it was the fifth most common Nationally Notifiable disease. Lyme disease is most prevalent in the northeast and upper Midwest.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted through the bite of one of several types of ticks. Borrelia burgdorferi (B burgdorferi) is the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. UMMC (2016) asserted that

What is Lyme disease, and why is it important? Lyme disease is a tick-borne disease created by bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. “The infection is primarily transmitted by Ixodes ticks, also known as deer ticks, and on the West Coast, black-legged ticks” (Lymedisease.org). It’s hard to identify the ticks because of their tiny size, similar to a poppy seed. To make that exact the female adult deer tick is about 2.7 mm in length, and the male is smaller than that (tickencounter.org). The size makes it even more difficult to feel or find a bite from the tick. However, the consequences can be very serious, sometimes even fatal (cdc.gov). Lyme disease is a serious public health in the United States that is overlooked.

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

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).

Most Lyme disease cases are very serious. The disease creates symptoms that are similar to the flu. When you first catch the disease you may experience fever, chills, sweats, muscle aches, fatigue, nausea and general pain. Very rarely, Lyme disease may be fatal depending on which strain of the disease you caught.

Indiana is considered to be a moderate risk state. Some of the states with a higher risk factor are along the upper east coast, Midwest, and western states. These areas seem to have a larger section of woods where the ticks like to hang out. Children seem to develop the disease more than adults. This is probably from being outside and playing

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).

Lyme disease is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks of the Ixodes genus.[3] Usually, the tick must be attached for 36 to 48 hours before the bacteria can spread.[4] In North America, the only

Lyme borreliosis or Lyme disease can be devastating both physically and mentally for victims. The disease is transmitted by a vector, specifically a tick, which infects their host by biting and infecting them with pathological spirochete bacteria known as Borrelia burgdorferi (Muschart & Blommaert, 2015). There are several species of Borrelia globally, and as a group, the bacteria are referred to as Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Pearson, 2015). The disease originated from, Lyme Connecticut, of which it was named, after a patient was mistakenly diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when the cause of their disease was B. burgdorferi or Lyme disease (Snow, 2013). Lyme disease is classified as one of the most common and growing vector-born disease in the United States as well as Europe (Snow, 2013). Understanding how Lyme disease progresses through the body as well as the disease’s signs and symptoms are essential to understanding how to treat the disease and stop it from spreading throughout the body with destructive results. With a disease as potentially devastating as Lyme disease, early treatment is required for a better outcome (Pearson, 2015). This research paper will discuss the pathophysiology of three Lyme conditions known as Lyme arthritis, Lyme neuroborreliosis, and Lyme carditis and provide an overview of the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease and treatments, and how to prevent infection.

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

Lyme disease is the most widely recognized tick-borne disease in the United States and Europe (Beard, 2016). Since the ticks that transmit Lyme disease are frequently encountered in backyards and recreational areas, a high level of public awareness and education should be made available to the general public for areas that have a high level of Lyme disease. From 2005 to 2014, a sum of 251,061 cases of Lyme disease was accounted for in the United States. In 2014, Lyme disease was the fifth most common reportable illness in the United States. Recent studies have shown about roughly 300,000 individuals are determined to have Lyme disease in the United States every year (Beard, 2016).

This means avoiding ticks, the organism that is most responsible for spreading this disease to humans. Long sleeved clothing, wearing hats, and tucking pants into one’s socks are all common preventative measures. Another way to prevent the spread from tick to human, is to remove the tick as soon as it is found on the skin so that there is less time to actually transmit the disease. Aenishaenslin et al. claims that Lyme disease is very often an endemic species, and only two cases must be confirmed in a county in order for it to become an endemic county. Antibiotics are most commonly used in order to treat Lyme disease. However, the vigor with which drugs are used depends greatly on the stage of the disease that the patient has progressed to. Treatment may last several weeks; if symptoms persist, or return, another round of medication will be