Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread to humans through the bite of a deer tick infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. A tick is a blood sucking parasite which normally lives on deer and mice in grassy and wooded areas. Lyme disease can affect the skin, joints, and nervous system as well as other organ systems if not treated. Simply seeing a tick somewhere on your body does not mean that you have contracted lyme disease.
Symptoms
A characteristic and early symptom of Lyme disease is the appearance of a red rash known as erythema migrans (EM). The rash begins as a small red spot where the tick bite occurred and spreads to form a circular rash. Other symptoms in early stages are flu like and include fever, chills, headache, muscle or joint pains. It left untreated, the infection can spread to different parts of the body causing painful, swollen joints, particularly in the knees. Untreated Lyme disease can eventually affect the central nervous system causing meningitis, loss of memory, sleeplessness, facial palsy, depression, and schizophrenia. Other organs such as your eyes and heart can also be adversely affected.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis is based on clinical signs of illness and blood testing for detection of lyme antibody in the blood. The antibody test is not a very efficient diagnostic tool: false positive results are common.
Complications
Lyme disease can affect any part of the body and may cause the following complications:
- Severe arthritis in the joints, commonly affecting the knees
- Fatigue
- Persistent neurological symptoms such as numbness, meningitis and paralysis
- Heart complications
Fifteen percent of people develop neuro borrelia, between 1 to 5 weeks after the tick bite and the central nervous system symptoms which result are mixed and not specific.
Treatment
Oral antibiotics are the primary treatment for Lyme disease. An antibiotic resolves the rash within one or two weeks. Some of the antibiotics recommended include doxycycline, amoxicillin, and cephalosporins.
Pain relieving medicines are prescribed for relieving symptoms.
Patients with certain neurological or cardiac forms of illness may require intravenous antibiotics.
Early detection and treatment usually results in a good prognosis and minimizes the risk of developing serious complications. If the nervous system, joints, or heart are affected, 2-3 years may pass before the symptoms go away. In rare cases a chronic disease with permanent symptoms may develop. This may happen several years after the tick bite.
Prevention
- Wear clothes that cover most of your skin when you are outdoors in grassy or heavily wooded areas.
- Use suitable insect repellents.
- Wear light colored clothes so that ticks are visible easily.
Click here to schedule your consultation with Dr. Resnik
See complete Wikipedia article here.
|
