Related concepts:

Borrelia burgdorferi

Introduction to lyme disease:

Even with our long history on this planet, new discoveries about microscopic neighbors continue to be made. In the 1970s, it was Legionnaire's disease. In the 1980s, it was AIDS. In the 1990s, Hantavirus made the headlines.

The story of Lyme disease is particularly interesting for two reasons. One is that it illustrates the power of mothers to affect the health of their children, and two, it's an excellent example of those many situations in our lives, which if attended to at an early stage, are very simple to remedy, but if allowed to take root and grow, become significant problems.

What is lyme disease?

Lyme disease was first brought to medical attention in 1975, when two mothers living in Lyme, Connecticut became frustrated by the lack of concern given to the unusual illness spreading through their community on the banks of the Connecticut River. These two women began to clamor for an investigation. One contacted the Connecticut State Health Department, and the other contacted physicians at Yale Medical Center. Their initiative set in motion a massive investigation, which in 1982 culminated in the discovery of the causative bacteria by Dr. Burgdorfer and colleagues. The bacteria was named Borrelia burgdorferi. At the outset of the investigation, it was noticed that the incidence of Lyme Disease was 30 times greater on the East Bank of the Connecticut River than on the Western Bank. Interviews with affected children and adults and their neighbors revealed that those who exhibited the illness were much more likely to have a cat, a farm animal, a pet with ticks, or a tick bite in the year preceding the illness. As a result, ticks were identified as a likely mechanism for infection. Then, in 1982, Dr. Burgdorfer found the bacteria on a type of deer tick.

Lyme disease is a tick-borne bacterial illness.

Who gets lyme disease?

Lyme disease has been found in 49 of the 50 United States. It is the most common disease caused by a bite in the United States.

Lyme disease is also common in Europe (particularly in Scandinavian countries and in Central Europe -- especially Germany, Austria, and Switzerland), but is found throughout the world, including in Australia where none of the ticks are known to exist. Humans are not the only ones susceptible to Lyme disease; dogs and horses also get it.

The bacteria live in deer and white-footed mice who do not develop the illness. When the appropriate tick feeds on one of these animals, it may become infected.

When an infected tick lands on someone, the bacteria are injected into the bloodstream through the saliva of the tick or deposited on the skin in tick feces. Thankfully, most ticks are not infected.

Even if someone is bitten by a nymphal stage deer tick that is infected, the risk of acquiring Lyme disease is only about 8 to 10 percent. It takes hours for the mouth parts of a tick to plant fully into the skin and much longer (days) for the tick to feed. Experiments have shown that it takes more than 36 hours of feeding before the risk becomes substantial.

What are the symptoms of lyme disease?

The symptoms in Lyme Disease can be divided into three stages.