Lyme disease was named in 1977 when arthritis was observed in a cluster of
children in and around Lyme, Connecticut.
Borrelia burgdorferi are helical shaped bacteria about 10-25µm long.
Other clinical symptoms and environmental conditions suggested that this was an
infectious disease probably transmitted by an arthropod.
Further investigation revealed that this disease is caused by the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi. These bacteria are transmitted to humans by the bite of infected deer ticks and caused more than 23,000 infections in the United States in 2002.
From left to right: The deer tick (Ixodes scapularis) adult female, adult male, nymph, and larva on a centimeter scale.
Black-legged ticks (Ixodes scapularis) are responsible for transmitting Lyme disease bacteria to humans in the northeastern and north-central United States. On the
Pacific Coast, the bacteria are transmitted to humans by the western black-legged tick (Ixodes pacificus). Ixodes ticks are much smaller than common dog and cattle ticks. In their larval and nymphal stages, they are no bigger than a pinhead. Ticks feed by inserting their mouths into the skin of a host and slowly take in blood. Ixodes
ticks are most likely to transmit infection after feeding for two or more days.
Risk: In the United States, This disease is mostly localized to states in the northeastern, mid-Atlantic, and upper north-central regions, and to several counties in northwestern California. In 2002, 23,763 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (MMWR 52(31):741-750).
Ninety-five percent of these cases were from the states of Connecticut, Delaware,
Rhode Island, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. Individuals who live or work in residential areas surrounded by tick-infested woods or overgrown brush are at risk of getting Lyme disease. Persons who work or play in their yard, participate in recreational activities away from home such as hiking, camping, fishing and hunting, or engage in outdoor occupations, such as
landscaping, brush clearing, forestry, and wildlife and parks management in endemic
areas may also be at risk of getting this disease.
Prevention and Treatment:
Prevention measures can be effective in reducing
your exposure to infected ticks, and most people can be successfully treated with
antibiotic therapy when diagnosed in the early stages of Lyme disease.
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