**Health Update for Seniors in South Carolina Below is an article on Lyme's disease. It was thought by many as a primarily New England state epidemic, but thousands of cases are being reported in the southern states. It is important to check for ticks as the infections they can pass are creating terrible health problems in people of all ages and can even be deadly. If you do not know about Lyme's disease, please read the information below. | More than 100,000 cases of Lyme disease have been reported in the United States, and the incidence is increasing each year. Approximately 12,500 new cases were diagnosed in 1997. Lyme disease can be difficult to diagnose because it is easily mistaken for other ailments, and existing laboratory tests can be inaccurate. Although Lyme disease can be treated successfully in the early stages with antibiotics, patients who go untreated or do not respond to antibiotics may develop significant complications months or years later. These problems may include painful arthritis, especially in the knees, nervous system difficulties, and heart complications. Treatment of early-stage Lyme disease alone costs an estimated $60 million a year in the United States. Identification of an Emerging Disease
Lyme disease was first recognized in 1975, when researchers investigated several cases of arthritis among children living in Lyme, Connecticut. The researchers suspected that an unidentified infectious microbe caused the illness, because the sick children lived near each other and became ill at the same time. Many of the children also recalled being bitten by a tick before becoming ill, and some developed a distinctive skin rash just before other symptoms appeared. From these clues, the researchers suspected that deer ticks, common arachnids the size of a pinhead, were involved in transmitting an unknown infectious microbe. Discovery of the Culprit
In 1981, as NIAID researchers were examining deer ticks for microbes that cause tick-borne disease, the researchers serendipitously found a new microbe. This spiral-shaped bacterium later was named Borrelia burgdorferi, after the NIAID scientist, Dr. Willy Burgdorfer, who discovered the microbe. The next year, NIAID researchers at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories isolated B. burgdorferi from deer ticks and developed a method to grow it in the laboratory. When scientists mixed the bacterium with blood from people who had recovered from Lyme disease, they found that the microbes reacted with a particular antibody produced during the immune response to infection. Such antibodies were not present in people who had never had Lyme disease, indicating that B. burgdorferi was the likely cause of Lyme disease. In further tests, rabbits developed both a rash similar to the typical Lyme disease rash as well as the same type of immune response generated after being bitten by ticks infected with B. burgdorferi. The following year, NIAID-supported scientists found B. burgdorferi in the blood and other tissues of patients with Lyme disease. Lyme disease was discovered in 1975 in the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut. The disease is a bacterial infection caused by the bites of certain infected ticks, and the ticks are much smaller than the ticks that are commonly found on dogs or cattle. The two most important ticks in Lyme disease are the deer tick in the northeast and north central states, and the western black-legged tick in the West. Although the deer ticks that carry the disease are slowly expanding into new areas, there are three general areas in the U.S. that have the highest incidence rate of Lyme disease: the East-coastal states of Massachusetts, the noth central states of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan, and northern California. In nature, the Lyme disease bacteria exist in a cycle that involves ticks and small animals. Particularly implicated in Lyme disease are the wild white-footed mouse in the east, and the wood rat in California. Once these rodents become infected, they can spread the disease to the many immature ticks that will likely feed upon them. Adult ticks prefer to feed upon the larger animals, instead of the rodents and small animals preferred by immature ticks. The adult ticks are particularly fond of deer, but as deer are resistent to Lyme infection, their function in the lyme disease cycle is to carry ticks into new areas. Birds may also be responsible for transporting these ticks into new areas. Lyme disease is not transmitted from person to person. It is only transmitted from ticks to humans, and the infected ticks can also transmit the disease to dogs, cats, and horses. These animals cannot transmit Lyme bacteria to humans, but they can carry ticks on their bodies, increasing their chances of getting infected by the ticks, and increasing the chances of those ticks infecting humans. Ask your veterinarian about appropriate products that will prevent tick infestation for your pet. The first sign of Lyme disease in humans is usually a characteristic rash, called erythema migrans, which expand outward from the site of the tick bite between 3 and 30 days after the bite. The rash is flat, circular, and is often as large as 2 inches in diameter. As the rash expands, it may begin to take on the appearance of a bull's eye. Infected persons may also experience flu-like symptons, including fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle aches. Persons treated with antibiotics at this stage of infection are likely to make a quick recovery and be competely cured. Persons who do not receive early treatment can develop problems involving the heart, joints and/or nervous system. |
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