In 1990, Lyme disease was a little understood condition that was hard to properly diagnose. In 2007, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported 27,244 cases. But the disease can be easily avoided and quickly treated.
How Lyme Disease Spreads
The bacteria causing Lyme disease is spread specifically by the deer tick, according to Susan Elias, a clinical research associate at the Vector-borne Disease Laboratory operated by the Maine Medical Research Institute in South Portland. Elias spends her days researching a variety of ticks at the lab and said anyone exposed to ticks should be wary of what the insects can spread through their bites.
“If a tick is just crawling, it hasn’t bitten yet,” Elias said, and she and Dr. Stephen Sears, the epidemiologist for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a deer tick must be attached to its host for at least 24 hours to transmit the bacteria. But deer ticks feed as they transform from larvae to nymphs to adulthood and can be particularly dangerous as nymphs because they are more difficult to see.
Elias said she measures four stages of engorgement in the ticks she studies, and deer ticks considered to be moderately to very engorged are the most likely to transmit the bacteria causing Lyme disease. Those are the stages in which a tick is swelling from feeding and eventually falls off its host. Although a deer tick feeds only once in each stage of growth, it has a two-year life expectancy and survives the winter in a sleep stage called diapause.
How Lyme Disease is Detected
A skin rash in the shape of a bull’s eye may be the first symptom of Lyme disease, but according to Freewebs.com, ("Lyme Disease", accessed May 2010) , the rash appears in less than half of positive cases of Lyme disease. Elias said flu-like symptoms and body aches may also be a sign, although the Maine Medical Center Research Institute (mmcri.org), says many victims of Lyme disease are not aware they were bitten by a deer tick ("Lyme Disease Research," accessed May 2010).
The disease mimics other conditions including Parkinson’s Disease, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s diease) and multiple sclerosis. Elias and Sears said antibiotics can quickly kill the disease if used 72 hours after symptoms appear. But tests to detect Lyme disease create frequent false positives while also being so narrowly defined that victims may not get a quick, correct diagnosis.
How Lyme Disease is Treated
Sears said antibiotics taken for about two weeks may cure the disease, but information at Freewebs.com ("Lyme Disease", accessed May 2010) says no studies have established that treatments for as long as a month fully kill the bacteria. If undetected and untreated, Elias said Lyme disease can cause a form of arthritis and infect spinal fluid to cause a form of meningitis.
How to Avoid Lyme Disease
Lyme disease can be easily avoided. Deer ticks are common to wooded areas in the U.S. and may reside in leafy underbrush providing a moist environment. When going outside, wear light clothing as deer ticks attach themselves to clothing before seeking skin. Spray clothes with a permethrin solution to repel or kill deer ticks. DEET compounds or a mixture of lemon oil and eucalyptus will keep ticks off skin, Elias said.
Before coming inside, make a thorough check for ticks, then do it again before bedtime. If a tick has attached itself, be patient removing it. Gently pull the body away from the skin and drop it in rubbing alcohol. In Maine, send ticks the institute lab for identification. Visit the institute web site, (mmcri.org) for more details. Inexpensive tick removal kits are available at the Lyme Disease Foundation web site (lyme.org), as is more information about the spread and scope of the disease.
David Harry - Along with contributing articles to Suite 101, I am a reporter for a newspaper in Scarborough, Maine. I have been a freelance writer for ...
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