Lyme Disease

What is Lyme Disease?

• Also known as borreliosis• Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria• Bacteria live in the host which is a tick

How it is transmitted

• Tick bites a human or deer for a meal and the bacteria is transmitted to the person or deer.

Host

Signs and Symptoms in Humans

• Expanding Rash

• Appears either as a solid red expanding rash or blotch, OR a central spot surrounded by clear skin that is in turn ringed by an expanding red rash (looks like a bull's-eye)

Symptoms

• Solid red or bull's-eye rash, usually at site of bite

• Swelling of lymph glands near tick bite

• Generalized achiness

• Headache

Beginning Symptoms:

SymptomsEarly Disseminated Stage:

Symptoms

• Arthritis (pain/swelling) of one or two large joints

• Disabling neurological disorders (disorientation; confusion; dizziness; short-term memory loss; inability to concentrate, finish sentences or follow conversations; mental "fog")

• Numbness in arms/hands or legs/feet

Late Stage:

Treatment

• Antibiotics –Doxycycline, amoxicillin and ceftin - four week treatment if found in early stages

• intravenous (IV) treatment and oral antibiotics- 4-6 weeks, late stages

Deer

• Deer may carry Lyme Disease but are not affected

• Humans, Dogs and Cats can be adversely affected by the disease

Birds• Carrier of Borrelia burgdorferi

• Ticks that do not have the bacteria can transmitted from a host bird

• Birds that do not have if can transmitted from feeding tick

• Birds are not affected by the bacterium

• The bacterium is spreading to new places because birds are migrating with feeding ticks, when they finish feeding they drop up in a new place possible miles away from where they attached to host.

Common Ticks

Deer ticks and two other common tick species - dog ticks and Lone Star ticks (neither of which is known to transmit Lyme disease)

Where

Risk Across the United States

References

American Lyme Disease Foundation• http://www.aldf.com/lyme.shtml#treatment

Google Images• http://myhealth.ucsd.edu/library/healthguide/en-

us/images/media/medical/Multum/ceftin500mg.jpg• http://fgghjghj.5khost.com/2804.jpg• http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/

e/e8/Doxycycline_100mg_capsules.jpg