Lyme disease is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Borrelia burgdorferi is a pleomorphic bacterium transmitted via Ixodes ticks. You get this disease when you are bitten by the black-legged tick or deer tick. This tick gets this bacteria when they feed on infected deer, birds, or mice. To transmit this bacteria in humans, ticks need to be attached to your body for 36 to 48 hours. If the tick gets removed before that time, you probably won’t get infected. You become infectious or not depending on the kind of tick that bites you. Tick contain bacteria or not and how long it was attached to your body.
After getting an infection, bacteria start spreading into your body. Firstly, Bacteria will attack your RBC then it will spread to another part of your bloodstream and will attack there. Therefore, it is very important to treat Lyme disease on time otherwise it will spread to the whole body and make the condition worse. It can lead to an inflammatory condition that affects your skin, joints, and nervous system and move to other sensitive organs.
Symptoms of Lyme disease
Lyme infection is divided into 3 stages- early localized, early disseminated, and late disseminated. Symptoms will arise after 3 to 30 days from the bite. The symptom you will get depend on the stage of your infection. Symptoms can also overlap. You will reach to the last stage without any symptoms. Some common symptoms are:-
- Fever, headache
- Sensitivity to light
- Bull’s eye rashes
- Chill or body aches
- Fatigue
- Heart rhythm problem
- Memory loss
- Mood change
- Sore throat and stiff neck
- Joint pain
- Paralyse face
- Tingling or numbness
Symptoms of disease in children
Symptoms shown in children are similar to adults. It includes:-
- Chill or body aches
- fatigue
- joint and muscle pain
- fever and headache
- Sore throat
Some parent also shows symptoms such as given below in their children when they get Lyme disease.
- Mood changes
- Memory loss
- anger or aggression
- depression
- nightmares
Lyme disease stages
Lyme disease divided into 3 stages
- early localized
- early disseminated
- late disseminated
Your symptoms depend on the stage of infection. It varies from person to person
Early localized disease
Property start getting symptoms after 3- 30 days of the bite. Common symptoms of this stage of Lyme disease are:-
- Warm to touch
- Bulls eye like rashes
- Headache
- Muscle pain
- Sore throat
Early disseminated Lyme disease
Symptoms includes are:-
- Arthritis
- Joint pain
- Swelling
- Pain in bones, muscles
- Severe headache
- Droopy face
- Neck stiffness
Cause
Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. Borrelia burgdorferi is a pleomorphic bacterium transmitted via Ixodes ticks. You get this disease when you are bitten by the black-legged tick or deer tick.
This tick gets this bacteria when they feed on infected deer, birds, or mice. To transmit this bacteria in humans, a tick needs to be attached to your body for 36 to 48 hours
Lyme Disease Diagnosed
Your symptoms will tell about the stage of the disease and the doctor will diagnose you according to your symptoms. You will have to get a blood test.
Lyme disease treatment
It is good to treat Lyme disease in the early stages. If it is not treated on time then it will lead to inflammation. If Lyme disease gets detected early then you just have to perform a 10-14 day course of antibiotics to eliminate the infection.
Drugs used to treat Lyme disease are:
- Doxycycline, Amoxicillin, and cefuroxime.
- Intravenous antibiotics
