Lyme disease

Lyme disease became apparent in 1975. This is a bacterial illness caused by Borrelia burgdorferi & Borrelia afzelii. There are certain ticks found on deer which harbor these bacteria in their stomachs and transmit the disease to the human by bite. Lyme disease does not transmit from person to person. It causes disease of the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system.The bacteria enter at the site of the tick bites on the skin and spread in the skin by inducing peripherally spreading reddish rash, often associated with "flu-like" symptoms. In the late stage, it can affect joints, heart, and nervous system.
Lyme disease passes through three phases as: (1) early localized disease on the skin ; (2) early disseminated disease affecting heart and nervous system.(3) late stage disease characterized by motor and sensory nerve damage and inflammation of joint.
The early phase of illness occurs within days to weeks of the tick bite, the skin around the bite develops an expanding ring of un-raised redness. The outer ring of lesion is brighter when a central area has faint erythema called "erythema migrans" (formerly called erythema chronicum migrans). Majority of patients often can't recall the tick bite. The skin rash is often accompanied by generalized fatigue, muscle and joint pain, stiffness, swollen lymph nodes and headache resembling symptoms of a virus infection. The redness resolves, without treatment, in about a month. Weeks to months after the skin lesion , the bacteria effects joints, heart, and nervous system.
The late phase of Lyme disease causes inflammation of the heart muscle resulting in arrhythmia and heart failur. Facial muscle paralysis (Bell's palsy), abnormal sensation of extremities due to peripheral nerve involvement (peripheral neuropathy),brain involvement as meningitis, and confusion , inflammation of joints with swelling, stiffness, and pain.
Diagnosis of early Lyme disease is clinical by finding the classical red rash on the skin. Blood testing for antibody to Lyme disease is generally not necessary or helpful in early stage disease, but it can be of help in the diagnosis of late stage disease. The antibody is detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay [ELISA].) But he confirmatory test is by Western Blot Assay
Most cases of Lyme disease are cured with antibiotics. The antibiotics used in the disease are doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime axetil. Use of antibiotic resolves the rash within one or two weeks, with no long-term consequences. Later stage illness involving nervous-system, cardiac and joint might require intravenous ceftriaxone and penicillin G. www.manuscriptedit.com