Lyme Disease

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Lyme Disease
Borrelia burgdorferi

• By Bill Cricks

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Definitions

• Lyme Disease a bacterial illness that causes
  abnormalities in the skin, joints, heart and
  nervous system.
• Spirochete a corkscrew-shaped bacterium with
  axial filaments.
• Borrelia burgdorferi Spirochete that causes Lyme
  Disease.
• Vector an arthropod that carries disease-ca
• using organisms from one host to another
• Ixodes scapularis the species of tick that is
  responsible for the transmission of Lyme Disease
  in the majority of the country
• Ceftriaxone an antibiotic that eliminates
  bacteria that cause many kinds of infections,
  including lung, skin, bone, joint, stomach,
  blood, and urinary tract infections
• Erythema migrans circular (bulls eye) rash that
  occurs in 70-80 of Lyme disease cases

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Background Information on Lyme Disease

• Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, and transmitted
  by Ixodes scapularis.
• First reported and named near Lyme, Connecticut
• Most common sign of Lyme Disease is the
  bull's-eye rash.
• Symptoms
• First phase Flu like
• Second phase- heartbeat becomes irregular,
  facial paralysis, meningitis, and encephalitis.
• Third phase- development of arthritis

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Mechanism of Transmission
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Summary of Article

• Study done by Dr. Brian Fallon, director of the
  Center of Neuroinflammatory Disorders and
  Biobehavioral Medicine, and Lyme and Tick-Borne
  Diseases Research Center at Columbia University
• No improvement, in Lyme patients with persistent
  neurological symptoms, after 10 weeks of
  antibiotic treatment
• 37 previously treated Lyme patients
• Complications from IV therapy
• Conclusion of study
• Need to find new treatments
• Previously treated patients can benefit from
  antibiotic treatment

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Summary continued

• Dr. Henry Feder, author of a review published in
  New England Journal of Medicine, no scientific
  evidence for promotion of long-term antibiotic
  treatment
• Diane Blanchard, president of Time of Lyme, IV
  treatment not desired, but helps to reach certain
  threshold
• Debate on Lyme treatment end or continue?

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References

• Ceftriaxone Sodium injections.
  http//www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmas
  ter/a685032.html
• Lyme Disease. http//www.medicinenet.com/lyme_di
  sease/article.htm
• Lyme Disease Symptoms.
• http//www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/l_humandisea
  se_symptoms.htm
• Microbiology An Introduction by G.J. Tortora,
  B.R. Funke, and C.L. Case, 9th edition, San
  Francisco, CA Benjamin/Cummings Publ. Co., 2007,
  chapter 23
• William Hathaway. Debate Deepens Over Lyme
  Treatment New Study Focuses on Patients Not
  Aided by Antibiotic Therapy.Hartford Courant,
  October 11, 2007, p. A15.