1.01 What is Lyme Disease (LD)?
Description
This article is from the Lyme Disease
FAQ, by Milo7
1.01 What is Lyme Disease (LD)?
Lyme Disease (LD) is a bacterial infection caused by a spirochete (a
spiral- or corkscrew-shaped microbe) named Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). There
are about 100 US and 300 worldwide strains of the bacterium. Spirochetes
(pronounced SPY-roh-keets) are maintained by animals in nature, where
certain ticks bite infected animals, ingest the bacteria, and then transmit
the infection through subsequent feedings. Humans and pets are incidental
hosts to infected ticks.
Ticks can be found anywhere--woods, seashore, even in your own backyard.
They can bite year-round, although peak tick season in the northeastern
United States is April to September; and on the West coast is November to
April.
Lyme disease is a potentially serious and debilitating illness,
affecting not just the joints, but all parts of the body. The disease
produces many symptoms (See 2.03, 2.14, and 2.17), several of which
can imitate other diseases (See 2.06). No two cases of Lyme disease
are exactly alike. This is due to unique differences in each person's
immune response; variations in the strains of bacteria; the
possibility of active co-infections (See 5.01); and/or the intensity
of a given bacterial load. (Information from the Lyme Disease
Foundation)
For pictures of Borrelia burgdorferi (the Lyme disease bacterium):
Borrelia burgdorferi (photos)
http://www.lyme.org/gallery/b_burgdorferi.html
For photos of Lyme disease ticks:
Ixodes scapularis (formerly, the deer tick)
http://www.ent.iastate.edu/imagegal/ticks/iscap/defaulttn.html
Large Photo of Tick
http://library.advanced.org/11743/english/schad/zbesche.htm
Tick Biology
http://entomology.ucdavis.edu/faculty/rbkimsey/tickbio.html
LDF: See section LD/Ticks
http://www.lyme.org/index2.html
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