| Symptoms
& History
Physical
Findings
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& Think
Lab
and X-Ray
Differential
Diagnosis
The
Disease
Treatment
Conclusions
Quiz
& Evaluation |
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Lyme
disease is named for the Connecticut town where in the mid 1970s there
was a outbreak of arthritis associated with skin erythema.
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Caused by a spirochete, Borrelia
burgdorferi.
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Transmitted to humans from rodents
by the very tiny deer tick.
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Has become the major arthropod
borne illness in the US.
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Occurs frequently in Europe
and even Japan.
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Forested areas support white
tailed deer which carry the tick. Field mice supply the spirochete
and the tick carries the organism to humans.
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In some coastal areas in the
northeastern US, as many as 50% of the Ixodes ticks carry
the Borrelia spirochete.
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These ticks may also carry Babesia
and Ehrlichia organisms.
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Several strains of the
Burgdorferi organism are known.
Stages of
Lyme disease.
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