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Lyme Disease
Now, if that was all it did it wouldn't be so bad but unfortunately, the tick is the carrier of Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochete organism that happily lives in these ticks and the white footed mouse. In short, adult ticks that are infected attach themselves to an uninfected mouse, which then becomes infected and becomes a host/carrier/incubator for Borrelia Burgdorferi. The next time an uninfected tick bites/feeds on the mouse, then it too becomes infected. Neither the mouse nor the tick is harmed by Borrelia so they can live perpetually with the infective organism. To contract Lyme disease, a tick has to bite us and infect us with the Borrelia organism, which usually requires the tick to be attached for 24 hours. This leaves us a window of opportunity to check for ticks and remove them before they become a problem. Note, it is estimated that 20 percent of the Ixodid ticks are infected with Borrelia.
A bull's eye rash, or "erythema migrans" is a symptom of a tick bite that contains the Borrelia organism. Image courtesy of DermNet.com.
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Lyme disease has three stages.
The first stage occurs soon after being infected. Three days to one month after being bitten we may notice the expanding non-painful rash called "erythema migrans" which looks like a bull's eye -- a red ring with central clearing. This is a sign of the localized infection caused by the Borrelia organism. But note 25 percent of victims do not develop a rash at all.
Stage two occurs days to weeks later and is indicative of a disseminated infection via your blood stream. The symptoms listed below only last a few weeks then seem to vanish on their own. The major signs/problems that occur are recurrent rashes that are widely distributed, fatigue, migratory musculoskeletal pains, severe headaches and fever. But cardiac nervous system problems may also develop.
Stage three occurs months to years later usually after a long period with out any symptoms at all. 60% of the victims now have chronic large joint arthritic pain but the very serious neurological problems now start to arise from severe dysfunction of the brain to the debilitating effects on the nervous system that controls our legs and arms. Our mood, sleep and memory can be significantly affected also. The symptoms are very similar to the end stages of Syphilis dramatized by the movie "Scarface".
Graph courtesy of the Center For Disease Control
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Lyme disease can be diagnosed by blood work but be careful because the blood work may be negative for the first several weeks of the infection. The clinical diagnosis can often be confused with "Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome".
The good news is that Lyme disease is easily treated early on with a short, cheap course of an antibiotic called Doxycycline that can prescribed by your family doctor. For pregnant women and those who have allergies to that particular antibiotic class alternatives are available. Unfortunately though, if have progressed to stage three, things become much more complicated and drawn out and the success rate is not anywhere as good. You will have to take intravenous antibiotics for many weeks. No vaccine is available that we are aware of at this time.
Reported Cases of Lyme Disease by Month of Illness Onset United States, 1992-2004. Graph courtesy of the Center For Disease Control
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We hope this has been informative and will help you in the future. As always enjoy the outdoors and be safe.
Got a medical question for the Hunt Doctors? Ask away by clicking < ahref="mailto:Aaron.Decker@IMoutdoors.com">here.
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