Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. The disease was first discovered in 1975 after a group of children were suffering from rheumatoid arthritis like disease. One similarity the children had was playing in wooded areas during the summer in the area of Lyme, Connecticut. However, the bacteria was not isolated until late 1981 by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer. Lyme disease has become an important public health problem in the Midwest and Eastern United States with incidence rates steadily increasing.
Borrelia burgodoferi is transmitted into humans and mammals by the Ixodes scapularis known as the deer tick or blacklegged tick. The disease cannot be transmitted from person to person contact. Pets can cause an increased rate of infected ticks to a home but cannot transmit the disease to their owners. The ticks have a 2 year life cycle that includes larval, nymphal, and adult stages. It is during the nymphal and adult stages that the disease is transmitted.
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The first stage involves the hallmark of the disease, having a bullseye like rash known as erythema migrans at the site of the bite, and also flu like symptoms such as fatigue, fever, and headache. Not all individuals experience the erythema migrans so it is not a required finding for the diagnosis of the disease. If left untreated, the disease will advance to the second stage. The second stage is known as the early disseminated stage, and is when the infection has progressed to other areas of the body. It can involve additional erythema migrans on different parts of the body, Bell’s palsy, inflammation of the spinal cord, swelling the joints, and heart palpitations. Like other spirochete infections, such as syphilis, the disease can have various asymptomatic periods (Bhate, 2011). The third stage, can result in arthritic bouts and neurological issues such as numbness in different parts of the body and/or short term memory
Lyme disease was discovered in the 1970’s, as any other disease was, by a large number of cases, with patients having the same symptoms. In Lyme, Connecticut, a doctor was having patients who were all suffering from the same symptoms that made patients become debilitated. There were so many cases that the doctor marked it as an unknown disease. It wasn’t until later in the 1980’s that there were more widespread cases throughout the north-east. Lyme disease is becoming a serious problem in the north-east and especially in New York State, given the drastic increase of cases. Without treatment Lyme disease can result in blindness and in severe cases, death.
The bite of an infected tick is the primary mode of transmission to humans, or other vertebrate hosts, though it is also possible, but extremely rare for infection to result from exposure to crushed tick tissues, fluids, or feces. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/rmsf/Natural_Hx.htm)
What became known as Texas tick fever probably arrived in North America sometime in the seventeenth century carried by cattle brought by Spanish colonists from the West Indies. It was transmitted by the cattle tick which required 200 or more frost free days per year for survival. Therefore, its spatial extent was the southern states. Initially, southerners were not terribly concerned about the disease since cattle was rarely a primary economic investment in the southern United States. Antebellum Texas was an exception since it dominated the national cattle industry. By the 1850s farmers in states such as Missouri were turning back cattle drives from Texas for fear of infecting their herds. In some instances there were violent confrontations, assaulting and even killing some of the cowboys. Eventually northern states intervened to protect their herds, instituting quarantine laws against southern cattle. In 1892 the federal government delineated a quarantine line that followed the northern border of permanent fever infestation. The accompanying regulations stated that cattle could only be moved to northern markets between
It is when the fleas jump to human hosts that the disease is spread. The strain of bacteria was not officially known until 1894 when it was identified as Yersinia Pestis. ?? -2 Yersinia pestis attacks and disables human’s immune systems and then starts multiplying within the body. Yersinia pestis is a very irregular bacteria that acquired its genetic makeup from other bacteria and viruses.
The spirochete has a unique and distinct morphology because of its long, spiral or twisted body and periplasmic flagella. Because of the flagella is between the inner and outer membranes and the body is helical, Borrelia burgdorferi is particularly motile. The flagella are positioned at each end of the spirochete and overlap through the center of the bacteria. This contributes to the shape of the bacteria as well, which is somewhat unique to Borrelia burgdorferi. The bacteria move in a forward spiral motion allowing it to spread quickly inside of the host. In humans, there are toll-like receptors and antigens that lead to the production of cytokines to fight off the foreign invader. However, some of the bacteria have special mechanisms to avoid the immunity response and is able to evade it. Lyme disease can be classified as a zoonosis because it is a disease that is carried by animals and transmissible to humans as the ideal host. Once the tick is infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the tick can pass the disease onto any human that it feeds off of. Ticks have a hypostome, or barbed mouth, that latches onto the skin in folded, less visible, moist areas. Once they attach to the skin, they begin to feed off of the host and this is when Borrelia burgdorferi is able to transmit. The tick bite is often not severe enough for the human host to recognize that he or she has been bitten. In the infected tick, Borrelia
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
“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
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).
Typical incubation periods between initial infection and symptom presentation is between 7 and 14 days. The classic symptomology indicating infection is the development of Erythema-Migrans, which is a bulls-eye shaped rash or legion that emanates from the site of the original tick bite. Although this is considered the characteristically identifiable symptom of early Lyme disease infection, studies have shown that as few as 35% of patients develop a rash (Nadelman et al., 1996). Other common indications of early Lyme disease include, flu-like symptoms and the development of Bell’s palsy. Common treatments for early stage cases include oral antibiotics and are highly effective in relieving infections. However, patients who do not receive treatment and develop CLD or acquire Post Lyme Disease Syndrome can experience significantly more severe health problems. Symptoms of these conditions include those found in early stages as well as, cognitive impairment, insomnia, neuropathy, and heart problems (Wormser et al., 2006). The nature of this bacterial infection and its increasing global incidence has made it a disease of significant interest in the public health and medical
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 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
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.
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.).
Lyme Disease is the number one tick-borne disease in the United States and in Massachusetts. It is considered a vector disease because it is spread through the bite of a black-legged tick (also known as a deer tick) that carries the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme was first diagnosed in 1975 in Lyme, CT and the bacterium that causes Lyme was discovered in 1982 by Willy Burgdorfer (Todar, 2012, p. 1). Lyme disease spreads rapidly and can impact many different organ systems including the joints, brain, heart, and muscles. Symptoms can lay dormant for months or years or occur quickly after the initial tick bite. Difficulty of diagnosis adds to the burden of Lyme disease in Massachusetts. “Because of its initial presentation as a skin rash, …the difficulty in some cases of even considering Lyme disease given its presentation in the form of other more typical illnesses, …Lyme disease in the 1980s became known as ‘the new Great Imitator’ “ (Lyme Disease, n.d.).