Thursday, October 25, 2007

Lime Disease facts

LIME DISEASE

Lime disease presentation varies widely, and may include a rash and flu-like symptoms in its initial stage, then musculoskeletal, arthritic, neurological, psychiatric and cardiac manifestations.

In a majority of cases symptoms can be eliminated with the use of specific antibiotics, especially if treatment is started very early in the course of illness.Late or inadequate treatment often leads to "late stage" Lime disease (lime disease) that is disabling and difficult to treat. Furthermore, this is complicated by the fact that this is a very difficult disease to diagnose accurately in the early stages.


GENERAL SYMPTOMS

The acute phase of Lime disease (lyme disease) infection is a characteristic reddish "bulls-eye" rash, with accompanying fever, and musculoskeletal pain. The characteristic reddish "bull's-eye" rash may be seen in up to 80% of early stage Lime disease (Lyme Disease)patients, and can appear anywhere from one day to a month after a tick bite. The rash does not represent an allergic reaction to the bite, but rather a skin infection with the Lime (lyme) bacteria.


Lime disease (lyme disease), or borreliosis, is an infectious disease caused by spirochete bacteria from the genus Borrelia. The vector of infection is typically the bite of an infected black-legged or deer tick, but other carriers may be ticks which have been implicated. Borrelia burgdorferi is the predominant cause of Lyme disease in the US and Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii are in Europe.


ACUTE LIME DISEASE


Other, less common findings in acute Lime disease (lyme disease)include cardiac problems which can happen in up to 10% of patients and include such symptoms as palpitations. There is also a risk in some cases of neurological symptoms with simple altered mental status as the sole presenting symptom.

Chronic Lime disease (lyme disease) can be manifested by a wide-range of neurological disorders, either central or peripheral, including encephalitis or encephalomyelitis, muscle twitching, polyneuropathy or paresthesia, and vestibular symptoms among others. Neuropsychiatric disturbances can occur (possibly from a low-level encephalitis), which may lead to symptoms of memory loss, sleep disturbances, or changes in mood or affect.