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The first sign of Lyme disease is often an expanding round or oval red "bullseye" rash. If left untreated, people may develop neurological symptoms and heart problems, and have an approximately 60 percent chance of developing Lyme arthritis. Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. This spiral shaped bacterium is most commonly spread by a tick bite. The disease takes its name from Lyme, Connecticut. This is where the illness was first identified in the United States in Although Lyme disease is a year-round problem, April through October is considered tick season.
Cases of Lyme disease have been reported in nearly all states in the U. Lyme disease is caused by bacteria that is spread to humans by tick bites. The ticks that carry the spirochete are:. Ticks prefer to live in wooded areas, low-growing grasslands, and yards.
Not all ticks carry the Lyme disease bacteria. While most tick bites are harmless, several species can cause life-threatening diseases. Tick-borne diseases include:. Working or spending time outdoors in areas where the black-legged deer tick or Western black-legged deer tick is found. The list of possible symptoms is long, and symptoms can affect every part of the body. The following are the most common symptoms of Lyme disease.
But symptoms are slightly different for each person. But health officials think the real number of Lyme illnesses is closer to , every year. And one reason Lyme cases have crept up is that Lyme season has been getting longer, as the geography in which ticks can thrive and survive has expanded.
This at least partially due to climate change. Lyme disease typically peaks in May through July, when the ticks that carry the disease are most active. But the number of counties that are now deemed high-risk for Lyme has also increased by more than percent since the late s. But unlike Zika, which is transmitted from mosquitoes to humans, the bacteria that causes Lyme, Borrelia burgdorferi, reaches people through tick bites after moving through a chain of other species.
And these are all animals that ticks feast on. The tick is in fact quite vampire-like — not an insect, but in the same family as the spider, mite, and scorpion — and progresses through its three life stages fueled by the blood of mammals. That includes humans.
If the ticks are carrying Lyme or other pathogens, they can infect us when they bite. What is clear: The risk of infection increases the longer a tick is attached. According to the CDC , common Lyme symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and muscle and joint aches. Lyme-related rashes can also come in many shapes and sizes.
If Lyme is diagnosed early enough within days to a couple of weeks , an antibiotic can treat the illness, said Richard Ostfeld , a Lyme disease researcher at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies.
Lyme can, in some cases, be really difficult to diagnose. Up to 30 percent of people never get a rash. People who get the test late may have a false positive, after their bodies have fought off the infection. So doctors are often left to diagnose the disease on the basis of clinical symptoms that can be really vague. Again, Lyme symptoms can persist even after patients are treated with antibiotics.
To address that, doctors came up with a medical diagnosis: post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome. A third of all the known tick-borne pathogens were discovered in the past two decades, including:.
So researchers and doctors have a lot to learn about how ticks can sicken people — and how the diseases they can spread interact with one another.
Too few health care practitioners and patients are aware of that, wrote Richard Horowitz, a doctor specializing in internal medicine, at the New York Times :.
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