Borrelia Burgdorferi An informative presentation by: Cyrus Love

 Erythma Migrans- They are actually just small rashes that grow in size shaped like a target.  Arthritis, in some cases, very severe.  Countless Neurological symptoms.  Heart/Cardiac problems.  Severe fatigue.  Eye and Liver inflammation.  And a persons nervous system becomes hyper sensitive, to even normal things.  However, Lyme can almost “imitate” any symptom, well over 300+ different symptoms have been recorded. Largely flu-like symptoms.

 Lyme Disease is very old in fact, the disease has been found from dates over 5000 years old.  However, its gone largely unnoticed, and only recently was it recognized as a disease.  The name of the Bacteria, Borrellia Burgdorferi, was named after the man who discovered it, Dr. Burgdorfer.  And the disease itself, Lyme Disease, was named after the first cases of tick bites (from infected ticks) out of Lyme, Conneticut.

 Lyme disease is gotten from infected ticks with the bacteria Borrelia Burgdorferi. But its usually not seen as Lyme first. Its often seen as other diseases or a flu.  Its often even called “The Great Imitator”, because its so good at disguising itself as another disease to throw off prognosis.  If a woman is pregnant and becomes infected- there is a chance of the child becoming infected.  And although its not completely confirmed, it’s even theorized that it is transmitable through sexual interaction, and just humanly transmissions. (Kissing, or sharing fluids, not touching.)

When Lyme is first gotten, from an infected tick, you will get a rash, and other “simple” flu symptoms. This only happens in the early stages. You’ll then develop Headaches, Sore Muscles, and even fevers. Once it’s past these, the severity and frequency of symptoms will increase. These include:  Arthritis  Tingling/Numbness  Severe fatigue (And it stays that way)  Bad focus, not good attention  Poor memory  Weakness (mainly with muscles) The main treatment for this is only Antibiotics, Usually this will work, but if not, its very very hard to get rid of, and it works best when found sooner, it has to be stopped ASAP when found.

 When Lyme Is first gotten it’s just required to a few weeks of oral antibiotics. Things like:  Doxycycline  Amoxicillin  Cerfuroxime Axetil  After the early stages of Lyme these do not work and long and hard treatment is needed, medicines used in this stage are commonly:  Cefriaxone  Denicillin  Patients usually in early stages completely and rapidly recover from antibiotics, otherwise, symptoms are reoccurring. Ultimately leading to death.

 The best way to prevent becoming infected is to simply avoid tick areas. Since there is not a direct vaccine. You have to take measures like these to ensure safety:  Wear long pants and/or long sleeves.  Use insect repellents.  Try to tick proof your house, and yard.  Check yourself for ticks.  If you’ve had Lyme before, you can still get it again, note to the wise, always remove ticks immediately when found, with tweezers.

 Back in the 1990’s there was vaccine work done for Lyme, however it was eradicated and stopped being used. The future suggests the vaccine either can’t be replicated or be used again. And Lyme based on its difficulty to catch, diagnose, cure, and frequent and easy ability to catch. It will only continue to grow. Probably in severity as well. The search for a safe Vaccine will be worth it, to stop the over infestation of Lyme Disease. Overall, if unnoticed, Lyme has a devastating future for humans.

 The President of the United States, George W. Bush was once diagnosed with Lyme in 2006, and cured.  More than half of the patients with Lyme never know, or remember being bitten by a tick.  The diagnoses of Lyme has a 50% correctness rate. That is a Coins flip percentage.  There are over 300+ symptoms recorded from Lyme disease.  More epidemic than AIDS, West Nile, and the Avian Flu combined.

 (In order)     (2 pages)     