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Lyme Disease Info
Ticks, tiny parasitic arthropods, have very little pleasing characteristics about them. Not only do they crawl from the grass or underbrush in wooded areas up your legs to find a warm, comfortable venue for dinner – your blood – but they are widely known to carry disease. A particular favorite of ticks from the genus Ixodes is Lyme disease.
It was once thought that the actual tick bite caused the infection, but the bacteria borrelia burgdorferi is now known to be the culprit behind the numerous symptoms of Lyme disease. Young deer ticks, or blacklegged ticks, feed on infected animals, consuming bacteria along with the blood.
Lyme Disease Info
As of yet, the most reliable method of diagnosing Lyme disease is considered to be that of a clinical exam completed by an experienced practitioner. Elements such as personal account symptoms and history, as well as possible exposure to tick-infested areas are all significant areas to consider during this exam.
The Erythema Migrans (EM) rash, which is not found in all cases, is also considered to make a sufficient enough diagnosis of the disease and therefore prompt treatment without further testing being necessary.
Lyme Disease Info
Lyme disease is most prevalent in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and Pacific Northwest, but residents of these areas need not worry too much. The disease is easily preventable because humans can only contract it through deer tick bites. No other method of transmission has been proven. Therefore, to prevent Lyme disease, just prevent deer tick bites.
Ticks prefer wooded or bushy areas with lots of grass and fallen leaves. Clearing brush piles, cleaning up leaf piles, and cutting tall grass around your property greatly reduces their preferred environment and should be the first step in making any home safer from ticks.
Lyme Disease Info
Lyme disease is presently the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere. There are numerous risk factors associated with this disease, which although are not considered as being a direct cause of the disease, still seem to be associated in some way. It must also be known and understood that even with the absence of any or all of these risk factors, one is not guarded against Lyme disease.
Some of the most common risk factors associated with Lyme disease are as follows: ticks, tick bites, tick-infested areas, wooded areas, hiking, camping, fishing, hunting, outdoor occupations, landscaping, brush clearing, forestry, and wildlife and parks management.
Lyme Disease Info
Although infection occurs in only one to three percent of deer tick bites, recognizing the symptoms of Lyme disease is important because treatment is most effective in early stages of the disease when the worst symptoms can be completely avoided.
Anyone at risk of being bitten by deer ticks, and everyone who has already been bitten, should be aware of the warning signs to expedite proper medical treatment. Not all patients will have all of the following symptoms.
Lyme Disease Info
The treatment of Lyme disease with modern medicine is straightforward and very effective. Treatment within the first three weeks of infection is most effective and almost always results in a full cure. After the first three weeks, treatment still usually cures the disease, but the cure rate diminishes with time.
Most Lyme disease patients will receive one of three oral antibiotics: amoxicillin, doxycycline, or the more expensive cefuroxime axetil. In some advanced cases when neurological or cardiac abnormalities are severe, oral antibiotics are replaced with intravenous ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, or penicillin.
Lyme Disease Info
Lyme disease was first discovered in the United States in 1975 by Dr. Allen Steere, following a rather mysterious outbreak of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis near the community of Lyme, Connecticut.
Following the discovery, reports of this disease have increased dramatically, to the point where Lyme disease today is the most prevalent tick-borne illness in the United States. In regards to possible different types of Lyme disease, there are really only those considered which are often diagnosed mistakenly to those who actually do have Lyme disease.
Lyme Disease Info
Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium which is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. In North-America these blacklegged ticks have been found and identified as the main factor to the spread of the disease, especially on the east coast.
It is known that in order for the spirochete to be attached, the tick must remain attached to the host for a minimum of 12 hours, however the longer the tick is attached, the higher the risk of the disease being transmitted.
Lyme Disease Info
In the case of diseases, the spread of false knowledge can be life-impinging if not threatening. With twenty thousand reported cases of Lyme disease in 2004 – who knows how many unreported – and the insidious nature of its tick carriers, there is impetus for a dearth of information about the disease and much is available online and off.
Patients come to their physicians confident in their own knowledge, accurate or inaccurate as it may be. More often than, they fall prey to myths about Lyme disease like these that follow.
Lyme Disease Info
Lyme disease strikes fear into the hearts of many. The idea of a small bug crawling from the grass or leaves under our clothes, sucking our blood like a miniature vampire, and leaving behind a disease is creepy at best. Indeed, Lyme disease is the most common arthropod-borne illness in the United States.
Because it is so repugnant and affects so many people but is seldom well-understood, there is a mass of false information out there, but it is time to set the record straight and separate fact from fiction.
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What Causes Lyme Disease?
Lyme Disease Info Ticks, tiny parasitic arthropods, have very little pleasing characteristics about them. Not only do they crawl from the grass or underbrush in wooded areas up your legs to find a warm, comfortable venue for dinner – your blood – but they are widely known to carry disease. A particular favo...
Lyme Disease Diagnosis
Lyme Disease Info As of yet, the most reliable method of diagnosing Lyme disease is considered to be that of a clinical exam completed by an experienced practitioner. Elements such as personal account symptoms and history, as well as possible exposure to tick-infested areas are all significant areas to consider during ...