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Lyme Disease Essay

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A disease caused by the bacterium which is belongs to the class of Spirochaetes which implies cockscrew-shaped. This bacterial infection is caused by four species. Borrelia burgdorferi and Borrelia mayonii cause the disease in the United States, while in Europe and Asia it is Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii.
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 …show more content…

If the disease is diagnosed at an early stage, anti-infections treatment is given for a duration of 14-21 days. Adults and children above 8 are recommended doxycycline, while cefuuroxime and amoxicillin are given to younger children and breast-feeding women. The infection can be totally eliminated if a person is treated at the early stage. If Lyme disease is persistent in a patient, then they will be treated with intravenous antibiotics. When the disease is treated at a later stage, the infection will be stopped, but the curing of the symptoms will happen at a slower rate. A patient left untreated could face problems with the nervous system, muscle and joints and the digestive system.
Prevention of Lyme disease lies in avoiding contact with ticks and removing ticks that attach to the skin. Avoiding grassy and woody areas is one way. Dressing defensively to cover up the skin available for the tick to attach is another way prevents the disease. Using repellants on exposed skin or checking for ticks regularly are other methods.
A decade long research that ended in earlier months of this year has sequenced the genome of the tick that causes Lyme disease. This allows researchers to understand how ticks acquire and transmit pathogens allowing them to design a strategy to control

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