15 Essential Facts about


Lyme Disease By Lauren Breau, MAcOM, L.Ac I


n researching on Lyme disease, it becomes immediately obvi- ous that understanding Lyme re-quires embracing complexity. Many people—patients and practitioners alike, shy away from a delving into Lyme because it feels overwhelming - and it can be.


Here are 15 overlooked, but essential facts in understanding Lyme disease


1. Lyme Disease is a bacterial infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) that can be trans-mitted to humans and pets by the bite of an infected tick. Not all ticks are infected, and even if they are, that doesn’t mean they will infect you if they bite you.


2. Lyme disease can lead to severe illness and disability in some people. It can affect any sys-tem of the body. It can cause, but is not limited to: extreme fatigue, arthritis, neurologi- cal problems, psychiatric problems, cognitive impairment, persistent headaches, muscle pain, heart irregularities, and vi- sion/hearing problems. No two cases of Lyme disease are the same, making the disease diffi cult to diagnose. Left untreated, or under-treated, Lyme disease can persist for years, even a lifetime.


3. The diagnosis of Lyme disease is based on clinical presenta- tion, because diagnostic testing for Lyme has been proven to be unreliable. In the absence of the characteristic “bullseye rash”, there is currently no way to reliably and consistently diagnose Lyme disease. Routine serological testing (testing the blood) for Lyme (ELISA screening test) has up to a 60% false negativity for both acute and chronic Lyme cases. Tests for co- infections (other tick-borne diseases) also have a high rate of false negativity. Overall, the medical literature on diagnostic testing highlight the need for both the improvement and stan- dardization in blood tests for Lyme disease and co-infections.


4. Co-infections: other tick-borne diseases that can be transmit- ted with Lyme include Babesia, Bartonella and Ehrlichia. You can have Lyme Disease and not have any of the co-infections, but many people diagnosed with Lyme have at least one co- infection. Because some of these other diseases can be caused by protozoans or viruses, not bacteria, antibiotics will not


20 Essential Living Maine ~ May/June 2017 help. All in-fections must be treated for you to get well.


5. The Lyme Disease pathogen is a spirochete; a particular type of bacteria. The word spirochete means “coiled hair” and describes the shape of this bacteria. Spirochetes have been around for millions of years longer than humans.


6. Upon attaching to a host, the tick releases a series of anti- infl ammatory chemicals and anti-histamines to numb the skin, and secretes a glue-like compound called cementum which helps it stay stuck to the host. After inserting its mouthparts into the host to feed, an infected tick can inject borrelia, and other pathogens, into the bloodstream. Most people do not feel the bite.


7. The best documented route of Bb transmission is by a tick bite, and usually it’s the bite of a black-legged tick of the Ixodes genus (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacifi cus are the most common). The nymph form of the black-legged tick is the most likely to transmit Lyme disease. The nymph is about the size of a poppy seed. That means when you check your body or someone else’s body for ticks, turn on the lights, look closely, and wear your glasses if you need them!


8. Many people claim that if the tick has been attached for less than 2 days, then there is no need to worry about infection. Those people, including doctors, are wrong. Research shows that many factors affect transmission time and transmission of bacteria can occur with tick attachment anywhere between 10 minutes and 72 hours. (Cook MJ. Lyme borreliosis: A review of data on transmission time after tick attachment. Intern J Gen Med. 2015; 8:1-8.)


9. After being bitten by an infected tick, some people develop a distinctive bulls-eye rash (ery-thema migrans, often referred to as EM). However, studies show that the bulls-eye rash oc- curs in less than half of infected people. A bulls-eye rash is diagnostic of Lyme disease. Pe-riod. Blood testing, in this case, is not required for diagnosis. If you have a bulls-eye rash, any- where on your body, you have Lyme disease. Treatment should start immediately.


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