Lyme Disease Research Paper

Lyme disease is a bacterial disease caused by a spirochete, a corkscrew shaped bacterium, called Borrelia burgdorferi. It is spread by deer ticks in the eastern part of the United States and black legged ticks on the West. Many people think that it is only on the east coast but it can be found all over the Unites States and in sixty other countries throughout the world and on every continent except Antarctica. The estimated amount of people diagnosed with Lyme disease each year in the United States is around three hundred thousand, but there has only been twenty three cases were people that have died from it. The blood test for Lyme disease can come back negative for a patient even when the person has it which makes them unreliable to help

diagnose. It is very easy to misdiagnosed Lyme because its conditions resemble many other diseases. This is where it gets its name “The Great Imitator” from. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention believe that there are many more cases that have just never been diagnosed. This illness affects people of all ages, but it can be more common in those that spend more time outside in the woods or around animals. Lyme affects the brain and nervous system, the heart, muscles and joints, or any other organ of the body. The bite of a nymphal or immature form of the tick is what most people get Lyme from. Some people do not even find the tick or just never realize that a tick bit them because they are so small and the bites are painless. If the tick is not found or disturbed it may remain on its host for several days. The longer it feeds, the more possibilities it has of transmitting Lyme disease and other bacterias into its host. If a woman is pregnant and gets Lyme then they could pass it to their unborn child and could cause stillbirth. It is still uncertain if the disease can be spread by other human to human transmissions.