Lyme Disease: Symptomsby Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger 23 May 2007 07:55 AM Medical literature has evidence of Lyme-like symptoms dating back to the beginning of the nineteen hundreds. The disease itself was pinpointed and named in the 1970s when researchers found serious symptoms coming from tick bites in and around Lyme, Connecticut. Ticks all over the United States, Europe, and Asia can transmit Lyme disease. Deer ticks are perhaps the best known culprit, at least on the East Coast of the United States. Adult deer ticks feed on deer; deer tick larvae and immature ticks (called nymphs) feed on rodents and other small mammals. Both nymphs and adult ticks can spread Lyme disease. In the United States, the majority of Lyme disease cases are reported in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Northern California. The first symptom of Lyme disease is a red, circular rash known as erethema migrans (EM). It may look like a bull's eye, with a red ring surrounding a clear area of skin with a red spot in the center where the bite occurred. The rash can vary in size from the size of a dime to a foot or more in diameter, and usually appears within a few weeks of the bite. With the rash come flu-like symptoms like: People with Lyme disease who do not get treated with antibiotics often develop arthritis. Though the arthritis can shift from one joint to another, the knee is the most commonly affected joint. As much as twenty percent of people with untreated Lyme disease end up with chronic arthritis. Lyme disease can also have an affect on your nervous system, including: numbness and weakness in the limbs, poor muscle movement, stiff neck and severe headache, and even Bell's palsy -- a temporary paralysis of the facial muscles. Some people also experience memory loss, difficulty concentrating, a change in sleep habits, and a change in mood. These nervous system problems may develop weeks or months (or even years) after an untreated infection. Learn more about Aimee Amodio  Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover... Relevanthealth tags User Comments Ravenscroft (5) 24 May 2007 03:21 AMPlease note that not everyone gets the rash derekclontz (6) 24 May 2007 07:20 PMYou are doing Lyme patients - and potential vicims - a disservice by publishing shoddily reported articles like this. You are wrong about the rash - ask the CDC or any Lyme expert ... only three in 10 people (experts disagree on the exact number, but all agree that a MINORITY of people get the rash) diagnosed with Lyme get this rash, although the rash, when it occurs, is a definitive marker of Lyme ... in fact, the only definitive marker of Lyme, per the CDC, is a rash you can relate to a tick bite. You are wrong about the disease being identified and named in the 1970s ... the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause Lyme weren't completely identified and named until 1982. There was, however, an outbreak of juvenile arthritis in Old Lyme, CT, in 1976 ... juvenile arthritis that, as it turned out, was caused by the Bb bacteria. This is an important distinction because it suggests just how "tricky" - maybe "formidable" is a better word - these bacteria really are. It took our best experts six years to scope them out after the outbreak of juvenile arthritis in 1976, which is frightening when you think about it. You also are wrong when you say the disease has been around since early 1900s ... well, let's say you have committed the sin of omission. Researchers have traced the disease back to the 19th century (the 1870s, it was said, the last time I checked ...  Aimee Amodio (11995) 25 May 2007 12:03 AMAccording to a 2004 report by the CDC, about 80% of people in America with Lyme disease have the rash -- that's four out of five, or eight out of ten. Here's a link: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/ld_LymeDiseaseRashPhotos.htm As for the earliest mention, we're both wrong: 1883 saw a German skin disease report related (possibly) to Lyme disease. 1909 was the first speculation that the rashes were related to tick bites, and that came out of the Swedish Society of Dermatology. That info comes from the Lyme Disease Foundation.  Mary Ann Romans (26886) 03 Aug 2007 12:58 PMWe recently moved to a high tick-infested area (lots of deer) and I wanted to mention one thind that our pediatrician has told us. I don't have any other sources on this. Only about 30 percent of deer ticks carry the bacteria that causes the disease. Another thing to mention: if you remove the tick before 24 hours, there is very little chance of you becoming infected. We do nightly tick checks for this reason. Community Tags lyme, Lyme disease, ticks, tick bites Discuss this article
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