Detecting & Treating an Eluzive & Stubborn Infection
Lyme Disease (LD) (named after the town of Lyme CT where the disease first became recognized as an issue in the USA around 1975).
Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorfori. This spirochetal (corkscrew shaped) organism reaches the human body through tick bite. The deer tick bites an infected deer and gets the Borrelia in its blood. It then bites a human spreading the infection. The infected human then suffers at first a flu-like illness with fever, chills, headache, muscle pain, malaise, fatigue, and sometimes a characteristic “bulls eye” rash. If the immune system fails to stop it, it progresses on to multi-system disease, including arthritis, and neurologic and cardiac disease.
Since most physicians believe that Lyme Disease can only happen in wooded areas like Lyme CT, they have a low index of suspicion and never check for LD in areas like Arizona and even California. Our experience has been that it is common here. There has been much speculation that insects other than the tick can transmit the disease. Fleas, mosquitoes, flies, are among the new suspects, but this has not been documented. Other repository animals than the deer almost certainly carry Lyme. It has been found in horses, dogs, and rodents. Additionally, perhaps humans can occasionally transmit it sexually and even by less intense contact. I have seen at least one case that appears to have passed from a Lyme Disease husband to his new wife who had no known exposure to insects.
Lyme Disease is confounding for many reasons. First, its laboratory diagnosis is very difficult, and most labs do not detect LD very well. Secondly, the organism evades conventional antibiotic treatment because it is an intracellular bacteria that grows slowly and can transform to at least four different types each of which may require a different antibiotic approach. Thirdly, there may be “co-infections.” This means that at least four other micro-organisms (bacteria and parasites) may be infused into the body with the same tick bite.
Stay tuned, there is much more to be said about detecting and treating this formidable enemy.
