Lyme Disease Is on the Rise – Here’s All You Need to Know!

Lyme Disease Is on the Rise – Here’s All You Need to Know!
SHARE

Lyme disease is unfortunately on the rise so it is quite important to know everything about it in order to keep yourself safe!

That’s right! This tickborne disease is becoming more and more common according to health insurance data.

So what exactly is Lyme disease ?

Lyme is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi a bacterium carried by blacklegged ticks, Ixodes scapularis and is usually caused by their bite.

While not always, in many cases a bullseye rash tends to develop around the bite and causes symptoms such as fever and chills as well as others that happen later on including heart palpitations, facial paralysis, headaches, swelling, tingling, numbness and shooting pains in the extremities.

While it can be treated with antibiotics, some of the symptoms causes by Lyme can persist regardless.

The CDC calls this post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS).

Even though the bacteria is gone at that point, it is possible that it may trigger an autoimmune response that will lead to fatigue, continuous pain and brain fog.

While this seems like an accurate explanation, the syndrome is still not entirely understood at this point in time, scientists learning more and more about it.

How can you avoid Lyme disease?

As you can imagine, when it comes to prevention, the only true measure you can take is to avoid being bit by ticks.

With that being said, you can use permethrin on your clothes as well as DEED on the skin and you should also always check for ticks after spending time outdoors or if you live somewhere where Lyme disease is more common than usual.

Ticks tend to just crawl on you for quite a bit before they actually bite so paying close attention to your clothes and body could lead to you discovering the intruder in time, allowing you to simply flick it off before it’s too late.


SHARE

Katherine is just getting her start as a journalist. She attended a technical school while still in high school where she learned a variety of skills, from photography to nutrition. Her enthusiasm for both natural and human sciences is real so she particularly enjoys covering topics on medicine and the environment.

Post Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.