Lyme Disease Basics

Lyme disease is the fastest-growing infectious bacterial disease in the US. Mostly known for being transmitted by ticks but recently they found that mosquitoes, biting flies, and spiders can all give you Lyme disease. These ticks are most often carried by deer and white-footed mice

Many people think of Lyme disease as an East Coast disease because it originated in Lyme, CT. It's now found in every state in the US & in almost every country in the world. One in three ticks in New England are carrying a tick-borne disease. “Tick-borne disease” meaning bacteria that a tick can transmit directly to your bloodstream when it is feeding off you. One of the many is Borrelia Burgdorferi which is the pathogen that causes Lyme disease. There are other diseases a tick can transmit including Bartonella, Babesia, Ehrlichia, Anaplasmosis, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, to name a few.

Testing is difficult because the bacteria enters your bloodstream and hides.  While it’s in your bloodstream your body will mount an attack which causes symptoms and perhaps a bull’s eye rash but once it finds a good hiding place it can lay dormant for years.  Symptoms will most likely fade and patients feel better.  A latent infection can bubble up later in life and the patient will have long forgotten about the tick bite they once had.

Testing very early on while the bacteria is still in your bloodstream and the body has mounted an attack is the best time to test. Also, note that each of those other infections that can be caused from a tick bite require separate testing. Unfortunately, each of these bacterial infections also require separate treatment. So you can see how tricky treating a patient with a tick-borne disease can be. Even trickier to be that patient.

First symptoms sometimes include a bullseye rash where you were bitten by a tick. A red dot with a white circle around it with another red circle around the whole thing looking like a bullseye. However, only 50% of people diagnosed with Lyme disease remember getting a tick bite with a rash. Another very common presentation for Lyme disease after a tick bite is something that resembles the flu. A great deal of fatigue, headaches and just a general sense of unwellness that can last up to three weeks. This is the crucial time to see a doctor, get tested, and start on the drug Doxycycline which will kill the bacteria in your bloodstream.

Very difficult to diagnose and treat but very easy to prevent and we're gonna talk about that next time.

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