Lyme Disease Symptoms

Researchers at the State University of New York say they have found an antibiotic they think will cure the arthritic- like pains of many chronic Lyme disease patients who do not respond to conventional treatment of the tick-borne disease.

Preliminary indications show it has a high success rate in patients who have failed on penicillin.

Lyme disease, which can produce debilitating symptoms that masquerade as a variety of illnesses, is affecting growing numbers of New Yorkers - particularly in eastern Suffolk and Westchester Counties.

The illness is not lethal, and it is curable if treated early with penicillin or tetracyline. A characteristic red rash appears near the bite of the deer tick that carries the causative bacterium. But some patients do not show the rash and so may not be diagnosed - by symptoms or by a blood test that monitors antibodies - until they are months or years into the disease.

Majority of gardeners and strollers in wooded areas in the New York metropolitan region are experiencing Lyme disease as never before. The disease, which starts with the bite of the tiny deer tick, can lead to arthritis and meningitis if not treated early.

The ailment has been reported throughout a wide area of coastal New England and in Wisconsin. Only about half the people bitten by the blood-sucking arachnid develop arthritic symptoms. Symptoms can take weeks or months to develop. The tick's bite first causes a small red bump that may expand into one or more reddish rings surrounding clear center up to five inches in diameter.

In case the disease is not treated early with penicillin or tetracycline, the symptoms may then lead to those of arthritis, meningitis or facial palsy, or an irregular heartbeat may result.

In 1977 this disease was named , Lyme disease (then called Lyme arthritis) because till that time it was known only in a small section the town of Lyme. Since 1977 lyme disease has been diagnosed in a few states along the Atlantic coast, in the Midwest , California, Europe and Australia. There are some confirmations that the disease is spreading, maybe through birds that transmit it from region to region.

Even though a virus was considered to be the most possible cause, tests trying to match the antibodies in victims of Lyme disease with more than 200 different viruses (38 of them known to be transmitted by ticks) were unavailing. Nor could any infectious organism be detected from the irritated joints of patients. On the other hand, European doctors had reported that the rash seen there responded to treatment with penicillin, which destroys many bacteria but does not affects viruses.

The mild winter may have supported the survival of the tiny tick that transmits Lyme disease. The tick harbors a bacterium identified in recent months as the possible cause of the ailment that if untreated can produce a frequent, crippling arthritis, among other serious symptoms.

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection transmitted to humans by the bite of an infected deer tick. If untreated, the bacteria can produce recurring arthritis, neurologic or cardiac complications. Early treatment with antibiotics - penicillin for children, tetracycline for adults - generally shortens the illness and prevents serious complications.

Symptoms usually, but not always, include the appearance of a rash or lesion at the site of the tick bite. Patients may experience flu-like symptoms - fever, chills, a stiff neck, muscle or joint pains, nausea, vomiting or sore throat. Without treatment, some patients develop Bell's palsy, meningoencephalitis, peripheral neuritis, myocarditis or arthritis.

While the peak period for the illness is the summer, adult ticks remain active in the woods and fields during the fall and winter when the temperature is above freezing.

Lyme Disease