Lyme Disease Essay, Research Paper

The topic that I have chosen was Lyme disease. I reason I chose this topic was because it is a very serious problem. This disease though not usually fatal can cause serious illness. Lyme Disease an infection caused by a spirochete (spiral shaped bacterium) that is transmitted to humans by the bite of an Ixodus tick that?s been infected. Since Lyme Disease is mistaken a lot of times for other diseases, it is called ?The Great Imitator?.

Lyme Disease is found on every continent except Antarctica. it is most commonly found along the east coast of the United States. It was first found in Old Lyme, Connecticut. There also is a lot of occurrences in the midwest and westcoast. New research has identified Lyme Disease in the south also. The picture shown in this report is of the Ixodus Scapularis, the black legged Deer tick. The Deer tick usually sits at the edge of a blade of grass or a branch as someone or some mammal brushes past it. It is a parasite. It needs to suck the blood of a mammal to survive. To treat Lyme Disease, intravenous antibiotics are needed. Physicians do not yet agree on the optimal therapy. Some physicians try pulse therapy ( weekly injections with no treatment in between), long term( 6 months to a year) and combinations (2 or more antibiotics simultaneously).

The only known way to get Lyme Disease is the bite of an infected tick. The infection can pass form a pregnant mother to her child. It was questioned whether it was possible to spread through sex, mosquitoes, fleas or by passing body fluids, but this is not possible. The longer the tick is attached to us, the greater the chance of it passing the disease on to us. Burning or pouring alcohol over a tick could cause the tick to regurgitate and inject some of its gut contents into our skin. I have had a couple of ticks on me before. I noticed it when I was in the shower and running my fingers through my hair. It was curled up into my hair. I was more careful about strolling through wooded areas.

Some people bitten by Lyme Disease develop a rash called Erythema Migrans (EM) which develop around the tick bite. It starts to expand over time to several inches around the tick bite. It could appear on several parts of the body as the bite expands. Many people experience fever, chills, fatigue, headaches, stiffneck, aching muscles, backache, nausea+vomiting, sore throat or swollen glands. Later symptoms are problems in the brain+nervous system, heart+circulation, digestion, reproductive systems+skin. The symptoms of Lyme Disease could occur much later after the bite. There could be mistakes on the diagnosis of Lyme Disease. PCR and the Lyme urine antigen test ( LUAT) can help distinguish between cases of active Lyme Disease and immune-mediated symptoms. Some physicians discovered that Multiple Sclerosis and other so called ?autoimmune? diseases actually have Lyme Disease can can be treated with antibiotics. Also there are other diseases from ticks that are confused with Lyme Disease.

Lyme Disease is now the most common tick transmitted infection with 16,461 reported in 1996. Over 109,000 cases have been reported since its been found, but there are many more cases that haven?t been reported. ever since I found a tick on me, I have been more cautious. I thought there were only ticks in jungle type areas but now I realize that they could be anywhere. I usually wear more clothes and not to leave areas of the skin exposed that are prone to tick bites

Bibliography

http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/ticks/iscap/all4.html

http://paleo16.ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/spirochetes.html

http://www.pacsky.org/scouting/misc/lyme.html

http://galactica.informatics.sunysb.edu/lyme/faq.html

Animal Planet on TV