The Lyme Disease Foundation (LDF) is the premier nonprofit dedicated to finding solutions for tick-borne disorders. Realizing the ability to find solutions involves a multi-discipline effort, the LDF includes the four cornerstones of progress (businesses, patients, government, and the medical community) to work together to find solutions to tick-borne disorders. The LDF is the only tick-related charity to meet federal standards to qualify as national nonprofit and has strong ties to the international scientific community. The LDF has an active media outreach, education (medical and public) and research programs.
Lyme disease is an infection caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacterium is usually found in animals such as mice and deer. Ixodes ticks can pick up the bacteria when they bite an infected animal, then transmit it to a person, which can lead to Lyme disease.
Symptoms of Lyme Disease
The first sign of infection is usually a circular rash called erythema migrans or EM. This rash occurs in approximately 70-80% of infected persons and begins at the site of a tick bite after a delay of 3-30 days.
The severity of the initial symptoms of Lyme disease remains under some controversy. Some believe the initial infection can occur with minimal or no symptoms. But most infectious disease experts believe that nearly all people experience a flulike primary illness or a characteristic rash several days to a few weeks following a tick bite.
Flu-like symptoms, such as headaches, stiff neck, muscle aches and fatigue may also be present. About half of all infected people never develop the rash, making it more difficult to diagnose the illness.
The redness resolves, without treatment, in about a month. Weeks to months after the initial redness of the skin, the bacterium and its effects spread throughout the body. Subsequently, disease in the joints, heart, and nervous system can occur.
In Europe, people with advanced Lyme disease may develop skin nodules and patches of thinning skin on their hands, elbows or knees.
Skin rash around the area of the tick bite. Joint and muscle pain are other early signs of Lyme disease. In more advanced disease, nerve problems and arthritis, especially in the knees may occur.
The rash occurs at the site of the tick bite and can grow from the size of a silver dollar to the size of a football.
Causes of Lyme Disease
Deer ticks prefer the blood of mice, small birds and deer, but aren't averse to dining on humans, cats, dogs and horses. They live in low bushes and tall grasses of wooded areas, waiting for warmblooded animals to pass by and are most active in the summer.
B burgdorferi bacteria cause Lyme disease. The bacteria have a complex life cycle, spending part of its life in the deer tick and in some mammals such as mice and deer.
Lyme disease was first reported in the United States in the town of Old Lyme, Connecticut in 1975. Cases have now been reported in most parts of the United States. Most occur in the Northeast, upper Midwest, and along the Pacific coast. Lyme disease is usually seen during the late spring, summer, and early fall.
The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are transmitted by the deer tick (Ixodes), so named because the adult ticks often feed on the blood of deer. The young forms of these ticks (nymphs) feed on the blood of rodents, particularly the white-footed mouse, which is a carrier of Lyme disease bacteria.
