Lyme disease

Lyme disease: Introduction

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by tick bites. There are a variety of symptoms of Lyme disease including a skin rash around the tick bite and various later general symptoms such as fever, fatigue and many other possible symptoms. Lyme disease can also affect the joints, central nervous system, and the heart. Method of treatment for Lyme disease is usually by various antibiotics.

Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose, especially if the characteristic skin rash around the tick bite is absent. Lyme disease is one of a group of conditions with vague symptoms such as fatigue, aches, or malaise. In mild cases, people may not even seek medical advice unless symptoms become more severe. Lyme disease it may need to be distinguished from fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, Type 2 diabetes, depression, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, or various other conditions. If the main symptoms are joint symptoms, then various other causes of arthritis need to be considered.

Symptoms of Lyme disease

• Early symptoms soon after exposure by tick bite:
  • Skin rash around tick bite - about 75% of cases have this rash; often hot to the touch but not painful; may have bullseye shape.
  • Erythema migrans (EM) - the official name for the tick bite skin rash
  • Mild illness
  • Flu-like symptoms
• more symptoms...»

See full list of 60 symptoms of Lyme disease

Lyme disease: Complications

Review possible medical complications related to Lyme disease:

• Arthritis - often occurs several months after the tick bite.
• Chronic arthritis (see Joint pain)
• Permanent joint damage (see Joint symptoms)
• Meningitis
• Aseptic meningitis
• Bell's palsy
• Radiculitis
• more complications...»

Medical Textbooks Online about Lyme disease

Book excerpts: Copyright © 2008 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. All rights reserved.

Diagnostic Tests for Lyme disease

• Lyme antibody blood test
• Lyme antibody spinal tap test
• more tests...»

Read more about tests for Lyme disease

Wrongly Diagnosed with Lyme disease?

• Misdiagnosis of Lyme disease
• Failure to diagnose Lyme disease
• Hidden causes of Lyme disease (possibly wrongly diagnosed)
• Undiagnosed: Lyme disease

Misdiagnosis and Lyme disease

Cluster of diseases with difficult diagnosis issues: There is a well-known list of medical conditions that are all somewhat difficult to diagnose, and all can present in a variety of different severities. Diseases in this group include multiple sclerosis, lupus, Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, thyroid disorders (hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism), chronic fatigue syndrome, diabetes - all of these can have vague symptoms in their early presentations. Also, depression can have some symptoms similar to these conditions, and also the reverse, that many of these conditions can mimic depression and be misdiagnosed as depression....read more »

Read more about Misdiagnosis and Lyme disease

Causes of Lyme disease

• Lyme disease is caused by bacteria. Infected ticks spread the bacteria by biting people or animals
• Deer ticks
• Western black-legged ticks
• more causes...»

Read more about causes of Lyme disease

More information about causes of Lyme disease:

• Underlying causes of Lyme disease
• Lyme disease as a complication caused by other conditions
• Medical news summaries relating to Causes of Lyme disease

Treatments for Lyme disease

• Preventive antibiotics after tick bite - may prevent the disease
• Antibiotics
  • Doxycycline - also good for other tick-borne diseases; not for pregnant women or young children.
  • Cefuroxime axetil
  • Amoxicillin
• more treatments...»

See full list of 17 treatments for Lyme disease

Latest Treatments for Lyme disease

• Doxycylcine
• Ceftriaxone
• Amoxycillin
• Erythromycin
• Cefuroxime
• more treatments...»

See full list of 6 latest treatments for Lyme disease

News Archives for Lyme disease

Medical news articles related to Lyme disease include:

• As Earth Warms, Lyme Disease Could Flourish
• Key to Lyme Disease Virulence Discovered
• Health Tip: Avoiding Lyme Disease
• Injectable Antibiotic Protects Against Lyme Disease in Mice
• Lyme Disease Relapse Often a New Infection
• more health news...»

Source: HealthDay News

Evidence Based Medicine Research for Lyme disease

Medical research articles related to Lyme disease include:

• Do you know of any cause of a transient myositis caused by somebody working in a dusty loft-space, possibly exposed to rats litter?
• If someone presents with a tick attached (tick bite) should antibiotics be prescribed at presentation once the tick has been removed?
• Best practice in lymphoma diagnosis and reporting
• Lyme disease
• Is there any information available on Gulf war syndrome. What, if any investigations are appropriate?
• Lyme Disease
• Relapsing fever
• more research...»

Click here to find more evidence-based articles on the TRIP Database

Videos for Lyme disease

Patient Surveys for Lyme disease

• Patient Profile Survey
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• Survey about the symptoms of your Lyme disease
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Prognosis for Lyme disease

Prognosis for Lyme disease: For early cases, prompt treatment is usually curative. However, the severity and treatment of Lyme disease may be complicated due to late diagnosis, failure of antibiotic treatment, and simultaneous infection with other tick-borne diseases (co-infections) including ehrlichiosis, babesiosis, and bartonella, and immune suppression in the patient.

More about prognosis of Lyme disease

Reseach about Lyme disease

Visit our research pages for current research about Lyme disease treatments.

Clinical Trials for Lyme disease

The US based website ClinicalTrials.gov lists information on both federally and privately supported clinical trials using human volunteers.

Some of the clinical trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov for Lyme disease include:

• Evaluation of Lyme Disease: Clinical, Microbiological and Immunological Characteristics - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Evaluation, Treatment, and Follow-up of Patients With Lyme Disease - This study is currently recruiting patients (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Brain Imaging and Retreatment Study of Persistent Lyme Disease - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - ceftriaxone
• Lyme Disease Prevention Program - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006)
• Study and Treatment of Post Lyme Disease (STOP-LD) - This study has been completed (Current: 23 Nov 2006) - Antibiotics
• more trials...»

See full list of 9 Clinical Trials for Lyme disease

Prevention of Lyme disease

Prevention information for Lyme disease has been compiled from various data sources and may be inaccurate or incomplete. None of these methods guarantee prevention of Lyme disease.

• Lyme disease vaccine - available since 1998
• Avoid ticks - see prevention of tick bites
  • Avoid tick-infested areas
  • Take care during summer - most tick bites occur in summer.
  • Wear long pants
• more preventions...»

Read more about prevention of Lyme disease

Statistics for Lyme disease

• Medical statistics for Lyme disease
• Prevalence and incidence statistics for Lyme disease
• Death and Mortality statistics for Lyme disease
• Society statistics for Lyme disease

Lyme disease: Broader Related Topics

• Bacterial diseases
• Possibly autoimmune diseases
• Tick-borne diseases
• Over-diagnosed conditions
• more types...»

Types of Lyme disease

Types of Lyme disease

• Lyme-like diseases - conditions similar to Lyme disease in Australia or other non-USA areas
• more types...»

Read more about Types of Lyme disease

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User Interactive Forums

Read about other experiences, ask a question about Lyme disease, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:

• I can not get a diagnosis. Please help.
• Tell us your medical story.
• Share your misdiagnosis story.
• What is the best treatment for this?
• See all the forums.

Article Excerpts about Lyme disease

NINDS Neurological Sequelae Of Lyme Disease Information Page: NINDS (Excerpt)

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted by the bite of an infected tick. It may cause a number of medical conditions. The disorder is often hard to diagnose because its symptoms and signs mimic those of many other diseases. (Source: excerpt from NINDS Neurological Sequelae Of Lyme Disease Information Page: NINDS)

Lyme Disease - The Facts, The Challenge: NIAID (Excerpt)

Lyme disease is still mistaken for other ailments, and it continues to pose many other challenges: it can be difficult to diagnose because of the inadequacies of today's laboratory tests, and it can be troublesome to treat in its later phases. Development of a vaccine to prevent Lyme disease is underway. (Source: excerpt from Lyme Disease - The Facts, The Challenge: NIAID)

Definitions of Lyme disease:

A specific species of bacteria, part of the BORRELIA BURGDORFERI GROUP, whose common name is Lyme disease spirochete. - (Source - Diseases Database)

An acute inflammatory disease characterized by a rash with joint swelling and fever; caused by bacteria carried by the bite of a deer tick - (Source - WordNet 2.1)

Lyme disease is listed as a "rare disease" by the Office of Rare Diseases (ORD) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This means that Lyme disease, or a subtype of Lyme disease, affects less than 200,000 people in the US population.
Source - National Institutes of Health (NIH)