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- Lyme disease is a bacterial infection
caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.
Lyme disease has several different stages
which makes it a unique infection because it has
a first, second, and late or third stage of disease
so that the illness looks different depending
on which stage of the illness you're seeing.
Lyme disease was discovered in Lyme Connecticut,
that's where the name comes from, in the 1970s.
Lyme disease is an expanding epidemic.
It started in the west coast of the Great Lakes region
in New England and the expansion over the last 40 years
has been quite dramatic.
So, the number of cases now of Lyme disease
is estimated to be 300,000 new cases a year.
The geographic range of Lyme disease is expanding as well.
So, it's no longer just New England.
The expansion seems to be progressive year by year.
The greater numbers of people, greater regions
of the United States are exposed to Lyme disease every year.
Lyme disease is what's called a vector-borne disease.
That means that it's transmitted by a vector.
In this case the vector is a tick.
The other unique thing about Lyme disease
is that the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi
is an obligate parasite of animals.
What that means is the bacteria
can't live in the environment.
The bacteria doesn't live in water or air or soil
like other bacteria.
It must live in an animal.
In the case of the Lyme bacteria,
the animal are small rodents, usually mice.
So, the reservoir or source of the infection is mice.
The vector are ticks.
That transmission cycle is dependent
on people living where there are ticks and mice.
People always ask, "What about the deer?
"What's the role of the deer in Lyme disease?"
Deer play an essential role to feed ticks.
So, ticks feed on deer just before they lay eggs.
The deer act as a food source for the ticks.
The deer don't actually carry
the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi.
The bacteria's carried by mice.
Patients should generally get advice from their doctor
under several circumstances.
One is obviously if you have a suspicious round,
red skin lesion and you live in a Lyme endemic area
and it's the Lyme endemic season,
which is mostly in late spring and early summer,
if those circumstances apply and you have a round,
red skin lesion, it's very important
to go to your physician with that.
If you can't get in immediately to get a picture of it
in case it goes away.
That would prompt urgent evaluation
so we can treat Lyme disease in the first stage
when it's most seasonally treatable.
In the later stages it's often
much more insidious situation.
General advice would be, of course,
to get medical advice if there's any serious symptoms
such as high fevers that don't go away,
feelings as if you're gonna pass out
or symptoms such as severe and unusual headache.
People can have viral infections that mimic Lyme disease.
In general, a few days of symptoms
especially if it's a typical viral situation
with a runny nose and prominent cough
or a GI virus with prominent GI symptoms,
it's fine if they're mild to wait those out
for a few days and see if they go away.
But, if the viral-like symptoms of achiness
and fatigue linger for more than a week or two,
that would be unusual with an
uncomplicated viral infection.
That would be another circumstance to seek
the advice of your physician.
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