...Lyme Disease Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which is characterized by neurologic, joint, and cardiac manifestations. Lyme disease is carried by ticks. The manifestation begins with a small bite from the tick and then a rash formed. When the development of a rash is noticed, it is often a serious issue that requires a doctor’s care, and can be fatal. The symptoms for Lyme make it difficult to diagnosis because they can be misconstrued by a large number of other diseases that range from arthritis to multiple sclerosis to Alzheimer’s disease. The origin of Lyme can be traced back to Lyme, Connecticut and the disease was first recognized in the 1960’s. Polly Murray moved to Lyme, Connecticut in 1959 with her four children. Within a few years of living in Lyme she began having periodic flu-like illnesses, headaches, and odd rashes. When she first went to the doctor they thought she had rheumatic fever and the doctors gave her penicillin. This helped for a little while but the symptoms returned in the spring and summer. In the early 1970’s Murray asked her doctor if this illness could be a delayed reaction to a tick bite, because she knew she had been bitten by ticks over the years. The doctor said no because she had no symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and in those days that was the only disease people thought was caused by ticks. Soon kids all over her neighborhood were coming down with the same symptoms...
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...radio/TV/printed material advertising explaining what Lyme disease is and some of its effects to humans. Advertising would be aimed in educating all of the public but in heavily populated deer areas would be more prevalent. Campaigns would begin in very early spring before the onset of the active season which is late spring to early summer. Once late spring is present and cases are reported, advertising would be in full force. This is when it would be beneficial to begin to start looking at preventional methods. Launch campaigns to eliminate tall grass from playgrounds, schools, and ball fields. Policing the grounds, were they thrive. Apply over the counter sprays to clothing from the “deet” nature. Try to eliminate possible contact by wearing long pants and shirts if going into those areas. If a deer tick is noticed, removal procedures and guidelines of removal and symptoms would go in effect. If symptoms occur, there would be a protocol for individuals to follow from their advertisement brochure or website. A check list from when the individual came in contact with the tick, to when removal was. If any redness occurred in the area followed by a rash around the bite area. This check list would be presented to the physician to help with the diagnosis of the bite and if Lyme disease would be present. Antibiotics could be administered to reduce the risk of other side effects. Educating the public of the potential risks of “Lyme Disease” and offering preventive measures they...
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...Vinson Lyme Disease: Historic time line: 1909- Swedish physician Arvid Afxelus observes a bull's eye rash around a patient's tick bite. 1930-1940- Swedish dermatologist Sven Hellerstrom links erythema migrans to meningitis in multiple patients. 1970- First U.S. Case of erythema migrans reported in Milwaukee, Wis. 1975- Reseachers link juvenile arthritis cases in Lyme, Conn. To tick bites. 1977- Yale rheumatologist Allen Steere provides the first definitive account of the disease 1980- The CDC begins to monitor the spread of Lyme Disease 1982- Zoologist and microbiologist Willy Burgdorfer of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Rock Mountain Lab, Mont., isolates the bacterium that causes Lyme Disease, Borrelia burgdorferi. The CDC reports 492 cases of Lyme Disease. 1984- Westchester County, NY declares a Lyme epidemic 1988- CDC reports 4,572 Lyme cases 1991- CDC requires state and local health departments nation wide to collect and verify data on Lyme infections 1994- CDC adopts two-step test standard to diagnose Lyme Disease. 1998- CDC records 16,802 cases of Lyme. Drugmaker SmithKline Beecham begins marketing Lymerix vaccine. 2002- The maker of Lymerix withdrawals the vaccine from the market after controversy over alleged side effects undercuts demand. 2006- Infectious Diseases Society of America publishes Lyme guidelines that find no convincing scientific evidence for the existence of chronic Lyme Disease. Connecticut...
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...Personal Impact Paper The personal impact that chronic disease has on patients, is extremely devastating. "Mention of chronic Lyme disease raises temperatures, not only among patients, but also among the experts who are trying to untangle exactly what chronic Lyme disease is" (Rowe, 2000 pg1). With a chronic disease, such as Lyme disease LD patients are faced with many challenges. Some that will be outlined in this paper. Which are social, financial and personal effects that this disease can have on a person. As well as what a patient has to go through when learning about their disease and living through the experience. Lastly, this paper will touch on the motivators that can be used when maintaining a positive outlook on the patient's life. When discussing what is Lyme disease many thoughts come to head because Lyme's disease is a complex yet very silent disease. This disease is known as "The great Imitator" (Lymedisease.org 2013) this is because the symptoms that arise are like other well known diseases. Some examples of these diseases are; Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, Depression and Rheumatoid Arthritis (Lymedisease.org 2013). By the time that Lyme's disease is diagnosis the symptoms and the disease process have become chronic. When someone gets infected this disease with the Lyme spirochetes, which is a poppy like size tick (Lymedisease.org 2013). The most common forms of testing are the Elisa and the Western Blot. These test are...
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...prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier’s archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/copyright Author's personal copy Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases 1 (2010) 125–128 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases journal homepage: www.elsevier.de/ttbdis Original article Plasmid profile analysis of Portuguese Borrelia lusitaniae strains Liliana Vitorino a , Gabriele Margos b , Líbia Zé-Zé c , Klaus Kurtenbach b,1 , Margarida Collares-Pereira d,∗ Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ciências, Centro de Genética e Biologia Molecular and Instituto de Ciência Aplicada e Tecnologia, Lisboa, Portugal Department of Biology and Biochemistry, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom c Centro de Estudos de Vectores e Doencas Infecciosas Dr. Franscisco Cambournac, Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Águas de Moura, Portugal ¸ d Unidade de Leptospirose e Borreliose de Lyme, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, and Centro de Recursos Microbiológicos, FCT/UNL, Rua da Junqueira 96, 1349-008 Lisboa, Portugal b a a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t Plasmid profiles of 2 Portuguese Borrelia lusitaniae strains, one isolated from a human patient and the other one from an Ixodes ricinus...
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...Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria known as borrelia burgdorferi and is one of the most common vector-born diseases. It is commonly transmitted through bites from infected black legged ticks. Some of the more common symptoms are fever, headache, fatigue and a rash that almost everyone who gets Lyme disease has called erythema migrans. Lyme disease is diagnosed through looking at the symptoms as well as possible exposure to infected ticks and if it goes untreated it can often spread to the heart and the nervous system as well as through your joints. It contains three stages, the first being a rash at the site of the bite, the second being cardiac and neurologic involvement, and the third being arthritis in large and important joints such as...
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...One disease that the American Dog tick transmits is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). This is a serious bacterial disease spread by Rickettsia rickettsii and can become deadly if not treated early. Some signs and symptoms include fever and a headache which are not specific to RMSF but can progress and become life threatening rapidly. Other symptoms may include lack of appetite, stomach pain, nausea, muscle pain, vomiting, and a rash. The rash is a very common sign of this disease, but it takes up to two to four days after the fever to develop. It looks like splotchy red dots and usually does not appear in the beginning of the illness making RMSF hard to diagnose. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is not a chronic disease meaning that it will...
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...The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of four zoonotic diseases in ticks from New Hampshire. Zoonotic diseases are pathogens that can be passed from animals to humans. DNA was extracted from ticks collected in New Hampshire and tested for Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Babesia sp., Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, and Rickettsia sp. These diseases are found all over the US, according to the CDC in 2010, Anaplasma phagocytophilum was reported to have 1761 cases, Babesia sp was reported to have 1762 cases, while Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato had the most at 30,000 cases of Lyme disease reported each year, and Rickettsia sp had 6 cases per million. Anaplasma phagocytophilum is the bacterium that causes Anaplasmosis which can be fatal if not treated correctly, a few of the several possible symptoms are fever, headache, confusion, and abdominal pain,...
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...Personal Impact Paper: Lyme Disease Eric Bickhart University of Phoenix student NUR/427 August 4, 2014 Amy Highland Personal Impact Paper: Lyme Disease “Since its identification nearly 30 years ago, Lyme disease has continued to spread, and there have been increasing numbers of cases in the northeastern and north central US. The Lyme disease agent, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes infection by migration through tissues, adhesion to host cells and evasion of immune clearance” (Steere, 2004). This disease is transmitted to humans from the bite of the Blacklegged (deer) tick. It usually produces a bulls-eye rash, but not in all cases. According to National Library of Medicine (2013), "Stage 3 or late disseminated Lyme disease can cause long-term joint inflammation (Lyme arthritis and heart problems. Brain and nervous system problems are also possible" (Outlook (Prognosis)). Lyme disease has afflicted a high school basketball coach and gym teacher of a small school in Liberty, Pa at age 36. He is the father of two children and a member of a local sportsman's club. He has been dealing with the ongoing symptoms related to chronic Lyme disease for about seven years. It has been a life altering disease for a previously active young man. He reports symptoms as severe pain and swelling in all of his joints that inhibit full rotation similar to rheumatoid arthritis. Also, he has persistent severe back pain which keeps him on the sidelines during most of his career and...
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...issue with the increase of deer. Deer overpopulation is causing many concerns, including human health and safety concerns, ecological impacts, and economic losses. The human health and safety issues associated with deer are primarily deer-vehicle collisions and transmission of Lyme disease. “It is estimated that 29,000 people are injured and 211 lose their lives annually in deer-vehicle collisions in the United States.” (Curtis) This number continues to rise as the overpopulation of deer continues to increase. Deer are coming out of the woods for food and water which causes an increase in the number of deer in human populated areas and highways. Deer-vehicle collisions is also one of the many economic losses that is associated with the overpopulation of deer. The expense of vehicle repairs and, sometimes, medical bills, due to vehicle-deer collisions is very high. There is also the human health and safety issue associated with the deer and the concern of the transmission of Lyme disease, as well as other more serious diseases by the “Black Legged” or “deer tick”. Lyme disease can cause arthritis or joint pain in humans and permanent damage if left untreated or a long period of time. Lyme disease “can also cause heart, brain and nerve problems” in humans if not treated....
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...of August at summer camp in the mountains of Pennsylvania. She’s been wearing mostly shorts and bathing suits for the past two months, none of them new. She doesn’t remember any bites on her thigh. 1. On the basis of the oral history, what is the most likely diagnosis? What would the causative agent look like with gram stain? Lyme Disease is the most likely diagnosis (3). Borrelia burgdorferi will show up pink with gram stain because it is gram – (1). 2. How did she most likely acquire her infection? She most likely acquired the infection from an Ixodes tick bit (deer tick) at summer camp (1). 3. Would the diagnosis be any different if she had attended camp in Arizona? Explain. She may have still gotten a tick bite, but not by the same type of tick (4). In Pennsylvania, it was more than likely by a deer tick, resulting in Lyme Disease (1). In Arizona, she could have made contact with a dog tick, resulting in Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (2). 4. Why does the doctor ask if her joints hurt? Lyme Disease causes inflammation of joints, which is a symptom of rheumatoid arthritis, which could develop from the disease if not treated properly in enough time (3). 5. How is this infection treated? Most cases can be treated with antibiotics,...
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...There are several ways that you can protect yourself from encountering an infected tick, and acquiring the Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever disease. The simplest thing you can do is wear long sleeves, long pants, and to make sure that your clothing is more on the lighter side. If you wear clothing that is light then you will be able to spot the ticks much easier because they will stand out. Therefore you will be able to flick the tick off and be on your way. During the summer no one is going to want to wear clothes that are meant for the winter just to stop a tick from landing on you, but there is always tick repellent. If you are one of those people that like to go camping, hangout in the woods, go somewhere that has high grass, and don’t want to protect yourself with your own clothing to make that barrier than using tick repellent and constantly checking yourself will help you stay...
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...azzmin Wright Summer 2017 Bio275 Paper #1 (Scientific Literacy Assignment #10) Lyme Disease Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted from animals to humans. (1). The means of transmission are arthropod vectors, specifically ticks. Those who have been exposed to Lyme disease experience symptoms such as fever, heachache , lack of energy and skin rashes. (2) The disease is characterized by a ‘bullseye’ rash called erythema migrans. Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete that is approximately 20-30mm in length and .2-.3mm in width . This means that the motility is via an axial filament (endoflagella),...
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...Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the United States, which has a bimodal age distribution of 5-9 and 55-59 years of age. (4) However, all ages are at risk for Borrelia burgdorferi infection and subsequent development of Lyme disease. (1) The Center for Disease Control estimates that 300,000 patients are diagnosed with Lyme disease every year in the United States. This is a 10-fold increase when compared to previous estimated Lyme disease cases per year. (3) In addition, 95% of these reported cases are focused within just 14 states all of which are located in the Northeast and Midwest. (3,2) Location is an influential element in the development of this vector-borne disease and should aid in the diagnosis of disease. Lyme...
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...The infectious agent responsible for Lyme disease is the spirochete microorganism B. burgdorferi. Lyme disease is a zoonotic disease that is transmitted from host to mammalian by vector ticks of the Ixodes genus (Transmission, 2015). B. burgdorferi is an obligate parasite, whose natural host are a wide variety of mammals, is transferred to humans to cause Lyme disease by a blood meal of a tick. Although a natural host may contain the microorganism, not all mammals undergo the symptoms of Lyme disease like that of the immunopathological response in humans. The parasitic nature of B. burgdorferi is due to the fact that the organism does not possess the genes responsible for synthesis of common biomolecules such as amino acids, nucleotides, and...
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