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The Low Down on Lyme Disease
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Lyme disease is the most common infection in the United States caused by arthropods (creepy-crawlers like spiders, roaches, and centipedes, to name a few). But it is a disease that can be easily avoided if you keep yourself safe and are smart about playing outside.
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Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is spread by deer ticks (sometimes called black-legged ticks) and Western black-legged ticks. Most cases of Lyme disease occur in the northeastern region of the United States, but there have also been cases in the upper Midwest as well as the northern California coast. When an infected tick bites a person or animal, the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi enters the body and travels through the bloodstream. Since Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium, it can be cured by antibiotics.
Though a person who has Lyme disease cannot transmit the disease to another person (it’s not a contagious disease), it is possible for a person to “re-catch” the disease from a tick, even if you have been infected before. It’s not like Chicken Pox, which is a viral infection. Once your body beats Chicken Pox, it develops a resistance to the virus, so it can’t make you sick again. Lyme disease can occur in those who have already been cured if they aren’t careful around ticks. The summer months (May through August) are usually when most cases of Lyme disease are reported.
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People usually get Lyme disease from nymphs, or immature ticks. They are smaller than the adults, so they are harder to see and remove.
Only about 1% of deer ticks carry the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Lyme disease was discovered in the mid-1970s. A group of children in Lyme, Connecticut developed arthritis, and the cause was traced to the bacterium carried by deer ticks.
The infection caused by Lyme Disease does not occur until about 2 days after a person has been bitten by a tick carrying the bacterium.
Since it’s a bacterium that enters the blood stream, blood tests may be performed to see if a person has Lyme disease. However, blood tests have proven to be unreliable if given too early (within the first month of infection).
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