What is Lyme Disease?
What Causes Lyme Disease?
How Do I Identify a Deer Tick?
What are Symptoms of Lyme Disease?
How Can I Protect Myself and/or My Children?
How Should I Remove a Tick if I Find One?
What Are My Diagnosis and Treatment Options?
What Other Illnesses are Transmitted by Ticks?
Who are the Children of Lyme Disease?
Lyme disease was first discovered in 1975 after a mysterious outbreak of arthritis in children who lived near Lyme, Connecticut. Lyme disease is an infectious disease (a disease caused by an outside agent) that affects the skin first, then the joints, the nervous system and, if untreated, eventually other organs.
Lyme disease (LD) is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a type of bacterium called a spirochete (pronounced spy-ro-keet) that is carried by deer ticks. An infected tick can transmit the spirochete to the humans and animals it bites. Untreated, the bacterium travels through the bloodstream, establishes itself in various body tissues, and can cause a number of symptoms, some of which are severe.
Lyme disease is spread by the deer tick (often called the black legged tick). Ticks feed on the blood of animals, and infected ticks prefers to feed on wild animals especially mice and deer, they will also feed on dogs, cats, livestock and humans.
The Lyme Disease bacteria is known to be transmitted mainly by the deer tick. Ticks are flattened and circular in appearance with eight legs. Deer ticks are very small, usually only one sixteenth of an inch across. Immature ticks are even smaller and very difficult to detect. The adult deer tick is dark brown to black in color with rust colored brown on the female.
The Deer Tick
These symptoms usually start within a few days to several weeks after being bitten by an infected tick. Lyme disease is most easily treated at this stage.
If Lyme disease is not treated, it can advance and spread from the initial bite location to the rest of the body. The symptoms include heart and nervous system problems. This can begin two to three months after the bite of an infected deer tick. These symptoms can occur without having the early symptoms!
These symptoms can develop months or even years after the infected tick bite.
High Risk Factors: |
Steps to Protect Yourself: |
| Yards surrounded by dense woods | Avoid tall grass and shrubbery areas |
| Bird baths & Bird feeders | Wear light-colored clothing (ticks are easier to see) |
| Outdoor pets that come indoors | Wear long pants tucked into socks |
| Woodpiles, brush piles, and rock walls | Widen trails through woods (to 6 feet) |
| Swingsets & treehouses in the woods | Remove brushpiles |
Outdoor occupations; landscapers, |
Keep high grass mowed |
| Outdoor recreation: freshwater fishing, camping, hiking, hunting, etc. |
Wear a tick repellent |
Many times (but not always), infected deer ticks must feed for at least 24 hours before they can begin to transmit the Lyme disease bacterium. Therefore it is crucial that you remove ticks as soon as possible. Take a shower after outdoor activity and put clothes in the dryer (dry heat will kill ticks). Check your body thoroughly, paying close attention to the armpits, thegroin and neck. Use the buddy system! Look for ticks nightly, especially if you have young children.
If you DO find a tick attached to your skin, there is no need to panic. Not all ticks are infected. As with treatment and diagnosis, there is debate as to when ticks begin transmitting Lyme Disease. Some studies state an average of 36 to 48 hours after attachment; other have stated it can be much sooner than that. Therefore, your chances of contracting LD are greatly reduced with early removal of the tick. That is why it is important to do frequent tick checks when outdoors. Remember, too, that nearly all of early diagnosed Lyme disease cases are easily treated and cured.
Remove ticks with tweezers only (bent, "needle-nose" tweezers are best). Apply steady backward force until the tick is dislodged. Do not grasp, squeeze, or twist body of tick. Be sure to grasp the tick close to the skin. Do NOT use nail polish, hot matches, petroleum jelly or other methods to remove ticks. These methods may actually traumatize ticks, causing them to regurgitate (vomit or "throw up") their gut contents, which may include the Lyme disease bacterium.
You can also view a video below from the American Lyme Disease
Foundation on the proper technique for Tick Removal:
If you think you have any symptoms of Lyme Disease, you should contact your physician immediately.
Even in the absence of an EM rash, diagnosis of early LD should be made on the basis of symptoms and evidence of a tick bite, not blood tests, which can often give false results if performed in the first month after initial infection (later on, the tests are more reliable). If you live in an endemic area, have symptoms consistent with early LD and suspect recent exposure to a tick, present your suspicion to your doctor so that he or she may make a more informed diagnosis.
No test is 100% accurate, therefore it is vitally important that you visit a doctor with extensive knowledge regarding the symptoms and treatment of Lyme Disease.
Early treatment of LD (within the first few weeks after initial infection) is straightforward and very often results in a full cure. Treatment begun after the first three weeks will also likely provide a cure, but the cure rate decreases the longer treatment is delayed.
Doxycycline, amoxicillin and ceftin are the three oral antibiotics most highly recommended for treatment of all but a few symptoms of LD.
It is extremely important that you complete a full course of antibiotics for Lyme Disease. You are not considered cured until you have 2 months with no symptoms at all.
Ticks transmit other diseases as well. Some of these include Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Mycoplasma, Bartonella, and Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Co-infections should always be considered in cases of Lyme patients who are not responding well to treatment.
The Children of Lyme Disease
Charles Ray Jones, MD Pediatrician, Private Practice, New Haven, CT
Current research indicates that the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi, can be transmitted within hours after an infected tick attachment. Failure of parents and teachers to recognize Lyme disease early in its course can result in a child developing a chronic difficult to treat infection in the brain, eyes, joints, heart and elsewhere in the body.
In my experience treating 7,000+ children birth to 18 with Lyme disease, 50% have no tick attachment history, 10% or less have an erythema migrans (bullseye rash) history, but all have a history of living in or having visited a Lyme endemic area and have a decline in the way they play and perform in school.
They are tired, wilt easily, have dark circles under their eyes and are sick. Lyme disease has a profound negative impact on a child's life, cognitive function and ability to perform maximally in school. Severe fatigue unrelieved by rest results in decreased stamina and a decreased ability to play and to do school work. Insomnia, headaches, nausea, abdominal pain, impaired concentration, poor short-term memory, an inability to sustain attention, confusion, uncharacteristic behavior outbursts and mood swings, fevers/chills, joint pain, dizziness, noise and light sensitivity, and difficulty thinking, expressing thoughts, reading, writing, and making decisions as well as a feeling of being overwhelmed by schoolwork plague a child with Lyme disease. Pain and impaired cognitive function make it difficult to sustain attention and to learn and recall new material.
Although Lyme is usually transmitted by Ixodes scapularis (deer) and Amblyomma americanum (lone star) ticks, it can also be transmitted in utero and through breast milk. These children, frequently floppy with poor muscle tone, are irritable and ill early in their lives with frequent fevers, increased incidence of ear and throat infections, pneumonia, joint and body pain. They have gastroesophageal reflux, small windpipes (tracheomalacia), cataracts and other eye problems, developmental delay, learning disabilities, and psychiatric problems.
All respond to months or years of continuous antibiotic therapy.
When Lyme disease is a possible diagnosis, the children should be evaluated by a Lyme knowledgeable physician who will continue antibiotic therapy until all Lyme symptoms resolve. In most circumstances, Ixodes scapularis tick attachment should be treated with one month of antibiotic therapy.