By: Bill Cricks

Borrelia burgdorferi

Lyme Disease: a bacterial illness that causes abnormalities in the skin, joints, heart and nervous system.

Spirochete: a corkscrew-shaped bacterium with axial filaments.

Borrelia burgdorferi: Spirochete that causes Lyme Disease.

Vector: an arthropod that carries disease-ca using organisms from one host to another Ixodes scapularis: the species of tick that is

responsible for the transmission of Lyme Disease in the majority of the country

Ceftriaxone: an antibiotic that eliminates bacteria that cause many kinds of infections, including lung, skin, bone, joint, stomach, blood, and urinary tract infections

Erythema migrans: circular (bull’s eye) rash that occurs in 70-80% of Lyme disease cases

Caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, and transmitted by Ixodes scapularis.

First reported and named near Lyme, Connecticut

Most common sign of Lyme Disease is the bull's-eye rash.

Symptoms:First phase – Flu likeSecond phase- heartbeat becomes irregular, facial paralysis, meningitis, and encephalitis.Third phase- development of arthritis

Study done by Dr. Brian Fallon, director of the Center of Neuroinflammatory Disorders and Biobehavioral Medicine, and Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases Research Center at Columbia University

No improvement, in Lyme patients with persistent neurological symptoms, after 10 weeks of antibiotic treatment

37 previously treated Lyme patients Complications from IV therapy Conclusion of study:

Need to find new treatmentsPreviously treated patients can benefit from antibiotic treatment

Dr. Henry Feder, author of a review published in New England Journal of Medicine,: no scientific evidence for promotion of long-term antibiotic treatment

Diane Blanchard, president of Time of Lyme,: IV treatment not desired, but helps to reach certain threshold

Debate on Lyme treatment: end or continue?

“Ceftriaxone Sodium injections.” http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a685032.html

“Lyme Disease.” http://www.medicinenet.com/lyme_disease/article.htm

“Lyme Disease Symptoms.”http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/lyme/l_humandisease_symptoms.htm

Microbiology: An Introduction by G.J. Tortora, B.R. Funke, and C.L. Case, 9th edition, San Francisco, CA: Benjamin/Cummings Publ. Co., 2007, chapter 23

William Hathaway. “Debate Deepens Over Lyme Treatment; New Study Focuses on Patients Not Aided by Antibiotic Therapy.”Hartford Courant, October 11, 2007, p. A15.