Essay On Lyme Disease

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Lyme disease is a type of bacterial infection. People who live in wooded areas tend to get the disease more often because the infection is transmitted by ticks. The tick must bite a person and be attached for at least 36-48 hours in order to transmit the infection. The tick releases a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. The bacterium will enter through the skin and eventually enter your blood stream causing various symptoms. In the early stages of the disease a person may experience a rash around the site of the bite. The rash usually looks like a red bulls eye and can form on multiple places on your skin. People may also have flu like symptoms which can include chills, fever, fatigue, muscle aches. The later symptoms of the disease are more serious such as joint pains (leading to arthritis) and …show more content…
They may experience irregular heart beat which usually only last for a few days.
A major effect of this infection is arthritis. Patients joints become very swollen, especially the knees. This can cause severe pain. Some patients who don’t get treated properly can have lasting arthrisus.
Post treatment lyme disease syndrome occurs in a small portion of people who are infected. Evidence has shown that is may be due to an autoimmune response that conitunes to respond even when the bacteria isn’t present, which causes damage to the tissue.
Lyme disease can be hard to diagnose because the symptoms are similar to other illnesses. The key give away is the bulls eye rash but sometimes there is not visible rash. In that case there would have to blood tests taken to try and find antibodies against the bacterium. Just the blood test alone does not prove that the patient has the diease. The doctor may ask if they have been outside a lot in the warmer months to see if they have had a tick bit. The doctor will have to take the symptoms, pateints history, and blood test all into account inorder to make a complete

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