...Phillip Bowser Public Health Primary intervention that would be useful in educating the public would be radio/TV/printed material advertising explaining what Lyme disease is and some of its effects to humans. Advertising would be aimed in educating all of the public but in heavily populated deer areas would be more prevalent. Campaigns would begin in very early spring before the onset of the active season which is late spring to early summer. Once late spring is present and cases are reported, advertising would be in full force. This is when it would be beneficial to begin to start looking at preventional methods. Launch campaigns to eliminate tall grass from playgrounds, schools, and ball fields. Policing the grounds, were they thrive. Apply over the counter sprays to clothing from the “deet” nature. Try to eliminate possible contact by wearing long pants and shirts if going into those areas. If a deer tick is noticed, removal procedures and guidelines of removal and symptoms would go in effect. If symptoms occur, there would be a protocol for individuals to follow from their advertisement brochure or website. A check list from when the individual came in contact with the tick, to when removal was. If any redness occurred in the area followed by a rash around the bite area. This check list would be presented to the physician to help with the diagnosis of the bite and if Lyme disease would be present. Antibiotics could be administered to reduce the risk...
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...Lyme disease, like some ailments, affect humans and animals, this means humans and animals can be influenced by it. Any animal that can be bitten by a tick can receive Lyme disease, this includes horses, cats, dogs, and more. Similar to a large percentage of diseases Lyme disease is affected by the biodiversity of the area and the biosphere. But how does the amount of biodiversity affect the rate of Lyme disease? Biodiversity improves the overall health of an ecosystem. Lyme disease is an illness caused by the spiral shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi and it is transmitted to humans by the bite of a tick. Usually a blacklegged tick or a deer tick, blacklegged on the west coast and Deer ticks on the east coast. Lyme disease can infect all organs in your body and the symptoms of Lyme disease are similar to the symptoms of other common illnesses. Because of this it is difficult to correctly identify Lyme disease therefore the estimates of people with Lyme disease are not entirely correct. However, thanks to the research of scientists we are becoming excellent at identifying it. Let me bring you back to 1975, when the first case of Lyme disease was discovered. Back then, there were more forests and biodiversity was higher, so Lyme disease was not as big of a problem. But as the biodiversity of a region goes down as does the health of that region, the same is true with the biodiversity of the biosphere. As the years went on Lyme disease cases increased, and the biodiversity...
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...Every spring and summer we are constantly checking ourselves for ticks, and trying to avoid going into the woods or long grassy areas. One of those reasons is the organism Rickettsia Rickettsii, which is carried by dog ticks. This organism caused Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. An infected tick carries the pathogen, which then if it attaches to a host (human) the infection can be transmitted. It spreads through the bloodstream and lymphatic system, causing the incubation time to be between three to twelve days. It is a very fatal illness if not detected, and treated right away. If you were to be bitten by a tick, there are many symptoms that can occur. The most common symptom would be a fever. After the fever occurs then a rash may appear within two to five day, but sometimes a rash may not appear on the skin. Other signs and symptoms may be; headaches, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, muscle pain, loss of appetite, and even redness of the eyes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). If any of these signs and symptoms appear, and you go to your doctor you can get antibiotics, which will treat the infection. First thing you will have to do is to make sure that you carefully pull out the attached tick. Then the doctor will prescribe you antibiotics, such as Doxycycline or Tetracycline (Medline Plus, 2013). Adults should be getting Doxycycline; 100mg every 24hrs, and children under 100 pounds should be getting 2.2mg twice a day (CDC, 2013). Once on the antibiotic your...
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...azzmin Wright Summer 2017 Bio275 Paper #1 (Scientific Literacy Assignment #10) Lyme Disease Lyme Disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is transmitted from animals to humans. (1). The means of transmission are arthropod vectors, specifically ticks. Those who have been exposed to Lyme disease experience symptoms such as fever, heachache , lack of energy and skin rashes. (2) The disease is characterized by a ‘bullseye’ rash called erythema migrans. Borrelia burgdorferi is a spirochete that is approximately 20-30mm in length and .2-.3mm in width . This means that the motility is via an axial filament (endoflagella),...
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...Lyme disease is caused by a bacteria known as borrelia burgdorferi and is one of the most common vector-born diseases. It is commonly transmitted through bites from infected black legged ticks. Some of the more common symptoms are fever, headache, fatigue and a rash that almost everyone who gets Lyme disease has called erythema migrans. Lyme disease is diagnosed through looking at the symptoms as well as possible exposure to infected ticks and if it goes untreated it can often spread to the heart and the nervous system as well as through your joints. It contains three stages, the first being a rash at the site of the bite, the second being cardiac and neurologic involvement, and the third being arthritis in large and important joints such as your knees. Most cases of Lyme disease are treated through the use of antibiotics in a few weeks and can easily be prevented through the use of insect repellents as well as checking yourself for ticks often after times when you may have been exposed to some (CDC, 2015). Over time, Lyme disease has become more and more frequent throughout the United States. In 1995 there were approximately 11 thousand cases confirmed and this number peaked in 2009 at about 30 thousand confirmed cases and many more probable cases but has since decreased to around 25 thousand confirmed cases in 2014. In 1975, some children and adults who lived in Lyme, Connecticut were experiencing some odd symptoms of arthritis. By 1977, some of the first Lyme disease cases...
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...One disease that the American Dog tick transmits is Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (RMSF). This is a serious bacterial disease spread by Rickettsia rickettsii and can become deadly if not treated early. Some signs and symptoms include fever and a headache which are not specific to RMSF but can progress and become life threatening rapidly. Other symptoms may include lack of appetite, stomach pain, nausea, muscle pain, vomiting, and a rash. The rash is a very common sign of this disease, but it takes up to two to four days after the fever to develop. It looks like splotchy red dots and usually does not appear in the beginning of the illness making RMSF hard to diagnose. Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is not a chronic disease meaning that it will not constantly recur, however, some people may come away with permanent damage to their body like amputated limbs, paralysis, hearing loss, or mental disability. It does not always get that severe, if it is caught early it can be treated with antibiotics like doxycycline. Tularemia is a more serious disease caused by nonmotile bacterium Francisella tularensis but it is more rare to be diagnosed. These small rod shaped microbes can be found in many different animals across North America and Eurasia. In the United States there has been a case in every state besides Hawaii, and every year there are only a few hundred cases of Tularemia. These incidences are most commonly found in the summer. There are six different types of Tularemia...
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...and Conclusions: PCR protocol used was 94oC for 3min; 40 cycles of 94 oC for 30s, annealing conditions and elongation conditions found above in table one; and subsequent incubation at 72 oC for 10min; 4oC forever. Borrelia burgdorferi was done twice figure one and figure five because on the first one there is a spot that looked like there might have been a band. The second Borrelia burgdorferi was done after the DNA being used was cleaned up and no bands were found. Figure two and three some bands are seen, but they are not bands that we were looking for. References: (CDC) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reye, A.L., Hubschen, J.M., Sausy, A., and Muller, C.P. Prevalence and Seasonality of Tick- borne Pathogens in Questing Ixodes Ricinus Ticks from Luxembourg. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 76.9 (2010): 2923-2931. ...
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...I have always heard about lyme disease and the effects of it but I never thought that I would become a victim of it. Living in central Pennsylvania, I didn’t think that I could get lyme disease because at the time Pennsylvania wasn’t at a high risk for it but the risk grew in a short period of time it seems. About 6 months after hearing that Pennsylvania had increased risks for lyme disease, I was diagnosed with lyme disease but being diagnosed wasn’t easy at all. It took a year of doctor’s appointments and feeling completely terrible in every crevice of my body to finally get the final diagnosis from my doctors. The only way to obtain lyme disease is being bit by a deer tick, a person cannot get lyme disease through sexual contact, saliva, blood contact, or anything else. Once being bit by a tick the person may see the red dot where they were bit plus a red circle around that which makes the spot look like a target. If the target appears, that means that the person has lyme disease but only about half of lyme disease patients have actually had the target. Most symptoms of lyme disease are like other diseases which makes lyme hard to diagnose because most doctors do not think of checking for it right away, they think of the other diseases first. The early symptoms include fatigue, muscle and joint stiffness, headache, and swollen lymph nodes which mostly resemble a viral infection. Without treatment in the early stages of lyme, the symptoms will grow worse as the lyme progresses...
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...Culture and Disease HCS/245 March 22, 2012 Michael Coker Culture and Disease Winter has ended and spring is here, and it has everyone running to enjoy the warm air and to embrace the outdoors of the hot summer sun rays. However, there is something lurking within the bushes and in the back yard which, they cannot wait for their next victims to attack. There is a small insect that crawls and is ready to take over Mother Nature because of the warm environment. This type of ticks can create a disease called Lyme disease. Within this paper, information will be pertaining to the culture and disease within a particular populated area of the knowledge of describing the disease, factors that make this particular population vulnerable, environmental factors, modes for disease transmission, methods are used to control the spread of alternative methods, role of social influences and benefits and values of treatment, and identify community health promotion and wellness strategies to help prevent the disease. According to Webster’s New World Medical Dictionary (2003) Lyme disease is an inflammatory disease caused by the bacterium Bornelia Burgdorferi that is transmitted to human by the deer tick. An infected tick can transmit the spirochete to humans and animal it bites. The first sign of Lyme disease is a red, circular, expanding rash usually radiating from the tick bite. After the Burgdorferi has entered the bloodstream, it can infect and inflame many types of tissues...
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...Introduction Lyme disease is a bacterial disease that is caused by the bite of a tick, these ticks carry the spiral shaped bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi. A human will contract this disease if they are bitten by an eight-legged tick that is in the middle stage of its life, called nymphs. If the tick is attached to the body for 36 hours than it can transfer the Borrelia burgdorferi to the person which it is attached to. Which is why it is important to check for ticks if you have been in an wooded area. Lyme disease has varying symptoms and “It can affect any organ of the body, including the brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart” (Lyme Disease.org). Lyme disease has three different stages of the disease that each have their own symptoms involved with the stage. It can be hard to diagnosis this disease based off the fact that is has many symptoms like other many diseases or other health problems so patients are frequently misdiagnosed. Lyme disease may not get diagnosed on time before it becomes chronic Lyme disease which is much harder and can take much longer to treat. Without diagnosis and proper treatment, the bacteria will continue to move throughout the body and will start to affect many other organs causing way worse effects than if they would have caught it early. Chronic Lyme disease can occur with proper treatment to as well. Lyme disease is also not fully understood, which also makes it difficult to treat and if a patient is diagnosed with...
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...Generalized lymphadenopathy develops as well which in some cases may lead to the animal displaying signs of lameness. Secondary signs will develop in about 10% of cases. These signs include glomerulonephritis which results in a protein losing nephropathy and is usually fatal. The extremely rare third stage of Lyme disease include attacks on the central nervous system which lead to facial paralysis or seizures. Both of these can lead to heart block if the seizures are severe enough to disrupt conduction forces of the heart. Lyme disease is transmitted via the vector tick in the genus Ixodes. There are two species that transmit the disease Ixodes pacificus and Ixodes scapularis. The Ixodes pacificus primarily carries the disease in the west coast while Ixodes scapularis is primarily found in the midwest and east coast. Not every tick will be a carrier of the disease, however about 90% of the specie Ixodes scapularis is a carrier. Dogs and rodents are reservoirs of the disease. Lyme disease affects the joints and in rare cases the kidneys and heart of the infected animal. Typically the joints become inflamed causing lameness which results in a limp. If the disease affects the kidneys, the animal may show signs of increased water consumption and urination. Rare cases of lyme disease can lead to heart stop. This is caused when the disease attacks the CNS resulting in seizures. Depending on the severity of the seizures, they may affect the overall conduction velocity in the heart....
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...she first went to the doctor they thought she had rheumatic fever and the doctors gave her penicillin. This helped for a little while but the symptoms returned in the spring and summer. In the early 1970’s Murray asked her doctor if this illness could be a delayed reaction to a tick bite, because she knew she had been bitten by ticks over the years. The doctor said no because she had no symptoms of Rocky Mountain spotted fever and in those days that was the only disease people thought was caused by ticks. Soon kids all over her neighborhood were coming down with the same symptoms. Murray kept at it and told everyone about the problems she had and had no answers for them. Later research found that her problems came from a tick called a Ixodes dammini tick. Symptoms of Lyme disease can be highly variable from one person to another and also can vary dramatically over time in one person. Although there is a classic pattern of illnesses in Lyme disease, it...
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