|
|
Highlight each symptom and bring the check list to your next
doctors appointment.
Symptoms:
Acute (early) Lyme disease symptoms:
* rash - This rash, called erythema migrans (EM), is usually oval or
circular, uniform in color and centered on the initial bite site. Although the
“bull’s eye” rash is the classic Lyme disease rash, it occurs in only 10-20%
of the patients who have a rash during their illness. The bullseye rash is
not the most common rash. The most common rash is oval and uniformly
colored. The rash appears 2-3 days after the bite. The usually expands
and clears over several weeks. Blood tests likely negative during this
stage of Lyme disease. If a patient has multiple rashes, this is considered
later lyme and should be treated differently.
One third of all Lyme disease patients never have an EM rash.
* fever
* malaise
* fatigue
* headache
* muscle and joint aches
The incubation period from tick bite to the onset of symptoms is usually 1-
2 weeks but it can be as long as one month. It is possible for an infected
person to have no symptoms or display only one or two symptoms; this
can make obtaining a correct diagnosis difficult.
Persistent (late) Lyme disease symptoms:
* fatigue
* muscle and joint aches
* Bell’s palsy
* pain
* numbness, tingling or burning sensations
* meningitis
* tremor, muscle twitches
* short-term memory loss
* depression, anxiety, panic attacks
* hallucinations
and many others.
The symptoms of late Lyme disease can appear months to years from
infection. Left untreated, Lyme disease can cause chronic disability, but it
is rarely fatal. Cases of persistent infection have been known to linger for
20 years before being correctly diagnosed.
Diagnosis
The most reliable method for diagnosing Lyme disease is a
thorough medical history and physical exam. The history includes
details about possible tick exposure, current medical problems and a
complete review of all symptoms. The physical exam includes a good
general exam plus detailed dermatologic, neurologic and joint exams.
The laboratory tests used to assist in the diagnosis of Lyme disease
include the ELISA and Western blots. The ELISA is called the “screening
test”; if it is positive then Western blots are done. Unfortunately, neither is
a reliable indicator of illness; test results vary between labs and within the
same lab and false positives and false negatives are common. A 2003
study by CDC researchers demonstrated that the C6 ELISA, a commonly
used test for Lyme disease, performed well for patients with arthritis but
missed patients with acute disease and many with early or late neurologic
Lyme disease. Because of these sorts of testing problems, Lyme disease
must be diagnosed on clinical grounds. Lab tests may confirm a
clinical diagnosis but by themselves they cannot rule the disease
in or out.
Treatment
The treatment of Lyme disease requires the use of antibiotics.
In cases where an EM rash is present, treatment should begin
immediately. Blood tests are not recommended because they are often
falsely negative. Most studies on the treatment of early Lyme disease
used at least 20 days of antibiotic therapy. Treatment is usually
successful; overall cure rates for this stage are roughly 90%.
Late Lyme disease is much more difficult to treat and while most patients
improve with antibiotic therapy, cure rates are much lower. The duration
of treatment can be quite long; some patients
may need to be on antibiotics for months or even years. Others may
require intermittent courses of antibiotics. Each case is unique and care
need to be individualized.
A true EM rash does not last for only a few days. An untreated EM
expands and regresses over weeks; the clearing is much faster if
antibiotics are given.
Other Types of Laboratory Testing
Some laboratories offer Lyme disease testing using assays whose
accuracy and clinical usefulness have not been adequately established.
These tests include urine antigen tests, immunofluorescent staining for cell
wall-deficient forms of Borrelia burgdorferi, and lymphocyte transformation
tests. In general, CDC does not recommend these tests. Click here for
more information. Patients are encouraged to ask their physicians whether
their testing for Lyme disease was performed using validated methods and
whether results were interpreted using appropriate guidelines.
Testing Ticks
Patients who have removed a tick often wonder if they should have it
tested. In general, the identification and testing of individual ticks is not
useful for deciding if a person should get antibiotics following a tick bite.
Nevertheless, some state or local health departments offer tick
identification and testing as a community service or for research purposes.
Check with your health department; the phone number is usually found in
the government pages of the telephone book.
|
|
|
|
Did you know . . .
There are 300 different strains of Borrelia
burgdorferi bacteria (bb) worldwide and 100
different stains in the US.
Lyme disease is the number one
vector-borne illness in the northern
hemisphere.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
How Were You Diagnosed:
The CALDA/Stanford School
of Medicine Survey
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Conflicts of Interest in Lyme
Disease: Laboratory Testing,
Vaccination, and Treatment
Guidelines- read more
|
|
|
|
|
|
And much more . . . .
Tick Bites Do's and Dont's - click here MN
Statute 62A.265 Coverage for Lyme
Disease click here
Lyme Disease and Co-infections - LDA
click here
More WI Areas Prone to Lyme - Click here
to read more
3 host Tick Cycle - click here
Tick Life Cycle - click here
Lyme cases spike 77% from 2006 to 2008
Reported Lyme disease cases by state
1999-2008 read more
In 2008 the CDC changed its Lyme
reporting process: to include both
“confirmed” and “probable” cases in the
total, and during this transition year, it’s
difficult to tell how this affected the
accuracy of the case count. Fifteen states
failed to report any “probable” cases - read
more
Other tick-borne illnesses - click here to go
to the CDC website
BuggSpray Insect Repellent for Ticks
Metropolitan Mosquito Control District
Free Tick ID
|
|
|
|
|
Centers for Disease Control: Lyme Disease Diagnosis
Lyme disease is diagnosed based on symptoms, objective
physical findings (such as erythema migrans, facial palsy, or
arthritis), and a history of possible exposure to infected ticks.
Validated laboratory tests can be very helpful but are not
generally recommended when a patient has erythema migrans.
For detailed recommendations on serologic testing, click here.
When making a diagnosis of Lyme disease, health care providers
should consider other diseases that may cause similar illness. Not
all patients with Lyme disease will develop the characteristic
bulls-eye rash, and many may not recall a tick bite. Laboratory
testing is not recommended for persons who do not have
symptoms of Lyme disease.
|
|
|
