This article will look at Lyme Disease symptoms, causes, treatment, stages, whether Lyme disease is fatal, and everything else you need to know about Lyme Disease.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have received reports of 20,000–30,000 confirmed cases of Lyme disease annually in recent years.
The bacterium that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, is spread by the bite of an infected deer tick (also known as a black-legged tick). The condition is not carried by common “dog ticks” and “wood ticks.”
In Lyme, Connecticut, and two other communities, several children were diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in 1975, which led to the first identification of Lyme disease, also known as borreliosis. Researchers discovered that the spread of arthritis was brought on by deer tick bites.
Lyme Disease Stages
Phases and stages of the development of Lyme disease might overlap and result in symptoms that can affect the skin, joints, heart, or brain system. These are the stages:
- Early Localized Lyme disease(weeks one through four).
- Early-stage widespread Lyme disease (months one through four).
- Late persistent, late disseminated or just late Lyme disease (after four months, even up to years later).
Lyme Disease Symptoms
Symptoms of the first stage of Lyme disease:
- Erythema migraines are skin lesion or rash that is reddish (EM). Anywhere between one week and four weeks following the tick bite, a little red patch marks the site of the rash. Over the course of a few days or weeks, the area enlarges and develops into a circular, triangular, or oval-shaped rash. Because the rash has a red ring around a clear core, it could resemble a bull’s eye. The rash might be as little as a penny or as large as the breadth of a person’s back. Multiple EM rashes (lesions) may develop at various locations on your body as the infection progresses.
- Fever.
- Headache.
- Stiff neck.
- Body and joint aches.
- Fatigue.
- Swollen lymph nodes (swollen glands).
Symptoms of the second stage of Lyme Disease
- Multiple areas of rash.
- Paralysis of facial muscles (Bell’s palsy).
- Heart block or an interruption of the electrical system of the heart.
- Areas of numbness or abnormal feelings (neuropathy).
Symptoms of the Third stage of Lyme disease
- Recurring episodes of swollen joints (arthritis). This typically affects large joints like the knee.
- Difficulty concentrating, known as “brain fog.” This is a form of encephalopathy or damage to the brain.
- Damage to nerves all over your body, including your skin, muscles, and organs (polyneuropathy).
Lyme Disease Causes
Borrelia burgdorferi is the bacteria that causes Lyme disease (and rarely, Borrelia mayonii).
A black-legged tick commonly referred to as a deer tick, that is infected spreads B. burgdorferi to people by biting them.
Black-legged ticks carrying the Lyme illness spread it in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and North Central regions of the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The illness is spread along the US Pacific Coast by Western Black-Legged Ticks.
Lyme Disease Treatment
Antibiotics, usually doxycycline or amoxicillin, are effective treatments for Lyme disease. How long your treatment lasts depends on the stage of infection. In general, it’s true that the sooner you’re treated, the quicker and more complete the recovery.
Pregnant people should receive treatment for Lyme disease as well. There is, however, no evidence that a fetus can get the infection from its parent. There’s also no strong evidence that miscarriages are more likely after Lyme disease.