Symptoms And Treatment Of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease has emerged as the most common vector borne infectious disease in the United States and has presented a growing challenge to public health officials over the past three decades. The infection represents a significant disease burden to the population of the United States with nearly 30,000 new cases diagnosed per year and an estimated additional 270,000 annual incident cases that go unreported. The disease results from a bacterial infection with the spirochete bacteria B. burgdorferi. This bacterial agent is transmitted to humans from the bite of a tick and is most commonly associated Ixodes species blacklegged ticks. These ticks represent the largest genus of the family Ixodidae and mainly inhabit temperate forest or grassland

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 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

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

Lymes disease is present here in Nova Scotia and has also affected humans and dogs in different parts of North America. It is one of the most common tick-causing symptoms however only 5-10% of dogs are affected showing different forms of the disease. Living in Lunenburg & Queens County (NS), there seems to be a higher population of deer ticks, as well as other parts of the province. The deer ticks are the primary carrier of the disease. A tick carrying the bacteria (B.burgdorferi) that can cause Lyme disease can transmit it to a dog after filling itself with blood, which takes at least 48 hours. Even if it is attached for 48 hours, the dog may not contract the disease.

Lyme disease is a multisystem, inflammatory illness. It is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. It is a vector-borne infection (which means it is spread directly from one host to another) transmitted specifically through the bite of an infected tick (Mayo Clinic: Lyme Disease - Definition, Aug. 27, 2015).

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.

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.

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.

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the world. This disease has been reported in all 50 states, mainly the New England states (Khatchikian, 2015). Lyme disease has also been reported in China, parts of the Soviet Union, Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1957, a group of children and adults in the Lyme, Connecticut area, and surrounding areas had been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (Shiel, William C). Dr. Allen Steere began researching to solve this problem. Steere identified the Lyme disease was transferred by ticks (BayAreaLyme.com).

Where you live in the U.S. has a significant impact on your risk of getting Lyme disease. Most cases occur in the Northeastern U.S. or the Midwest. In fact, in 2105, 95 percent of confirmed Lyme disease cases in the U.S. occurred in just 14 states. If you live in one of the following states, you are at increased risk of exposure:

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

Descriptive epidemiology is defined as the method in which data is collected and analyzed to improve understanding of factors that lead to a disease. The three specific data points that are evaluated and classified are; time, place and person (CDC, n.d.). The module 3 case assignment will look at the epidemiology pattern of Lyme disease to include statistics on affected persons in the United States, areas with high incidence and the time frame of signs and symptoms that occur with the progression of the disease.

One of the most common Tick communicable diseases plaguing the United States today is a human transferable infection called Lyme disease, which is spread by Deer Ticks Ixodes scapularis, they are small arthropods often found in wooded areas of eastern United states (Orkin.com “Deer ticks” accessed may 8 2016); transmission of the infection occurs when an contaminated deer tick I. scapularis bites its victim transmitting the blood borne infection to its host; a bacteria called spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. (CDC) invades the body and begins it journey of destruction. Symptoms are not felt right away, yet over the

(Topic 1) With Lyme Disease being such a large factor in the lives of many Americans, scientists are trying to discover a vaccine that will prevent those in the most infected areas from getting the disease. In the early 1900’s drug companies established a potential vaccins for the disease. LYMErix was a vaccine that moved to extensive research and was studied with patients to see if the vaccine would reduce the onset of the disease. The LYMErix vaccine was a 3 dose vaccine that was given to those between teenage years and elders under the age of 71. It had results that showed prevention to be