Lyme Disease, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The times of devastating infectious epidemics have long ago passed, and the 1960s have been marked by the major breakthrough in the issue of treating infectious diseases. However, looking at then facts of modern dissemination of the Lyme disease, one will have to agree that the challenge has not yet been met efficiently, and the failure to recognize the threat this disease is likely to bring produces an even more negative effect on the community than the disease itself. Lyme disease is a quite new infection and it got its name from the region in which it was at first properly diagnosed – Old Lyme and Lyme in Connecticut. However, it is young only in terms of official recognition – in fact, the first instance of Lyme disease-like symptoms have been reported by the scholars and patients as long ago as in 1883 (Yannielli, Alcamo, & Heymann, 2004).

Nowadays Lyme disease is already recognized as a distinct tick-borne bacterial infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi; the bacteria of this type live in mice, squirrels, and other small animals. Nonetheless, the surest way to get infected is recorded from ticks (Crawford, 2009; Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009). There are from 15,000 to 20,000 cases of Lyme disease reported in the USA annually, mainly from tick bite – patients turn to doctors with the usual symptoms of skin rash, swollen joint, and flu-like symptoms such as headache, stiff neck, and muscle pain (Lyme Disease, n.d.). Sometimes the Lyme disease may be accompanied with fever, but the most common symptom is still skin rash.

Infection and Dissemination Data

The Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium is a spiral or corkscrew-shaped one, known as spirochete; it is one of the longest- and thinnest-known spirochetes (Yannielli, Alcamo, & Heymann, 2004). The most common type of the human infection comes from the tick byte – the tick has to feed for a minimum of 36 hours for the infection to occur. After the bacteria get into the human body, they spread through lymph and blood. Generally, three stages of the disease are detected so far, and each of them is associated with a particular set of symptoms and physical processes (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009).

The first stage is marked by the physical signs of infection dissemination. The place of the byte is commonly covered with red rash, and the center becomes clear as the rash expands, which makes it resemble the ‘bull’s eye”; some patients develop erythema migrans, but it is not common for all patients and occurs only accidentally. The second stage flow is determined individually, and may take from a couple of days up to several weeks, marked by the gradual dissemination of the bacteria within the body. This is the stage associated with the most common symptoms mentioned above, and it may also be accompanied with the development of neurologic, musculoskeletal, and cardiovascular symptoms (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009). The final stage of the Lyme disease may develop for months and even years after the initial case of infection. It may be found in patients who were either not properly diagnosed, not treated precisely from Lyme disease, or whose body was not fully purified from the presence of the bacterium. The stage is marked by intermittent arthritis, severe joint pain, or chronic arthritis. (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009).

Diagnosis

The modern challenge existing in the field of Lyme disease management is the absence of reliable clinical tools for the diagnosis thereof. Hence, the physicians and patients are often left with the guesswork, and the diagnosis is often made on the basis of the history of exposure to tick bytes, and some specific symptoms. Nonetheless, nowadays a more or less reliable way of diagnosing the disease is seen in the admission of the two-step clinical testing that includes enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with high sensitivity, followed by an immunoblot with high specificity (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009). The ELISA testing is considered 65% sensitive, which is surely not enough for the clear and definite diagnosis, but it creates the basis for the optimistic prognosis about advancement in screening and diagnosis (Crawford, 2009).

There is a range of alternative, or additional, tests for detecting Lyme disease that include urine-antigen tests, fluorescent-antibody tests, high-resolution microscopy, and lymphocyte transformation tests (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009). However, they are not considered reliable enough, and are not recommended by the authoritative medical institutions. A more or less viable option for Lyme disease detection is the variety of PCR tests directed at the genetic material of the bacteria and are more reliable than even the ELISA testing (Crawford, 2009). Despite the fact that the most common assessment of their validity does not exceed 20%, they are a good option to explore and improve.

Co-Infections

Taking into account the way Lyme disease is transmitted, one can suppose that the tick may transmit many types of infectious bacteria to the human organism during a bite. There are a couple of bacteria commonly associated with the tick bites alongside with Lyme disease; in case they are transmitted to the organism of the human host simultaneously, they may cause considerable complications in the diagnosis, as they cause similar symptoms or aggravate the existing ones. For example, the intracellular protozoan Babesia Microti causes the increased severity of the Lyme disease symptoms, and can even cause the hemolytic anemia or heart failure. Another infection is Ehrlichia caused by the bacteria E. chaffeensis or E. phagocytophila – they cause the decrease of blood white cells, hemolytic anemia, vomiting, diarrhea etc. (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009).

Aside from the set of conventional co-infections associated with Lyme disease, having a Lyme disease is often connected with such grave disorders as autism and Alzheimer’s disease (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009). The majority of individuals having autism were diagnosed with having B. burgdorferi (20%–30%) and Mycoplasma (58%), both of which affect the central nervous system of the human host. In addition, mothers who were tick-bite during pregnancy were diagnosed with having the Lyme disease agent in placenta, which caused further grave disorders of the fetus. As for Alzheimer’s disease, the current research suggests that the bacteria may live in the human brain and cause amyloid plaques. Therefore, these bacteria can be associated with the development of “dementia, cortical atrophy, and amyloid deposition” causing the disease (Meletis, Zabriskie, & Rountree, 2009, p. 18).

Debate over the Chronic Lime Disease

The debate about the existence of the term and notion ‘chronic Lyme disease’ is caused by the fact that the disease itself is quite young, and there is little research funding for its exploration and explanation. However, the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) has already rejected the possibility of chronic Lyme disease’s existence due to the fact that the specialists of IDSA recognize only the presence of the post-Lyme syndrome (Rosner, 2009). Meletis, Zabrieskie, and Rountree (2009) identify the presence of the chronic Lyme diseases symptoms in cases when there are evident Lyme disease indicators under the conditions of minimal risk of the patient’s tick bite or any other opportunity to get infected.

The common symptoms people with the chronic Lyme disease syndrome report are “fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and cognitive complaints in patients” (Meletis, Zabrieskie, & Rountree, 2009). There is sound scientific evidence of the chronic Lyme disease reported in various countries and by various medical and research establishments. For example, the data from the Institute of Rheumatology in Prague, Czech Republic, the University Hospital of Frankfurt, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich, University of Dermatologische Privatpraxis, Munich, Germany, and many other organizations, report that there may be persistence of the bacteria to antibiotic therapy, resulting in a chronic disorder (Rosner, 2009).

Treatment of Lyme Disease

Antibiotics are seen as a powerful means of treating Lyme disease, but only in case it is diagnosed at the early stage (Lyme Disease, n.d.). In these cases, “doxycycline for adults and children over age 8 or amoxicillin is given for 2–4 weeks for patients” (Meletis, Zabrieskie, & Rountree, 2009, p. 20). Manipulation is not recognized as a way of treating Lyme disease, as it may be directed only at the increase of the organism’s immunity (Crawford, 2009).

There are also some natural treatment opportunities widely accepted by medicine nowadays. Uncaria tomentosa (cat’s claw) is used as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory immunostimulant. Some other plants used in treatment of Lyme disease are Urtica dioica (stinging nettles), Zingiber officinalis (ginger), Boswellia serrata (boswellia), Echinacea purpurea (echinacea), and garlic (Meletis, Zabrieskie, & Rountree, 2009).

Conclusion

There is no doubt nowadays that Lyme disease is a distinct disease that requires special attention from the side of both potential patients and researchers. Discovered not long ago, it still remains an aching reality of North America, taking into account the growing number of individuals being infected annually. The situation with the disease is aggravated by the common difficulties in diagnosis, lack of treatment opportunities, and the complexities connected with distinguishing the disease from many others with similar symptoms. Hence, acceptance of the disease as a distinct disorder and emphasis on solving the current challenges associated with it are the matter of the near future in medicine.

References

Crawford, M. (2009). Lime Disease: A Hidden Epidemic. Journal of the American Chiropractic Association (November 2009), pp. 7-11.

Lyme Disease (n.d.). MedlinePlus. Retrieved May 20, 2011, from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/lymedisease.html

Meletis, C.D., Zabriskie, N., & Rountree, R. (2009). Identifying and Treating Lyme Disease. Alternative and Complementary Therapies, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 17-23.

Rosner, B. (2009). Chronic Lyme Disease: Real Disease or Medical Myth? Townsend Letter (July 2009), pp. 51-57.

Yannielli, L., Alcamo, I.E., & Heymann, D. (2004). Lyme Disease. New York, NY: Infobase Publishing.