 |
| Deer tick that is the cause of Lyme disease |
This article talks about how many years people have
questioned whether or not Lyme disease symptoms are coming back as a new
infection or a relapse. A new study just recently found that the symptoms are
caused from new infections. This article was written by Denise Grady on
November 14th, 2012. Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that is
caused by a deer tick. I found this article on New York Times, and the direct
link is:
If the doctors find the infection inside of you between the
first 2-4 weeks, you just need to take antibiotics to solve the problem
according to infectious disease experts. If the doctor was to find the disease
later you could have serious heart problems or arthritis which could come and
go for years. Some doctors, patients and advocacy groups think that the
bacteria of Lyme disease can somehow hang on regardless of the treatment.
The conclusion that new symptoms come from new infections is
fingerprinting the Lyme bacteria in people who have had this illness more than
once and finding that the fingerprints did not match. The result of this was
that the Lyme in each patient were caused by different strains of bacteria, so
they could not have been relapses.
A quote that stands out to me is when Dr. Allen C. Steere, a
Harvard professor who was the first to identify Lyme disease says “antibiotics
are not the answer.” His study said that the new infections were the cause of
new symptoms in people who had taken antibiotics to treat earlier cases of the
disease. This quote and article stood out to me mainly because I did have Lyme
disease when I was in 6th grade. I was really lucky because they caught it in
the first two weeks so I just took antibiotics. This makes me wonder if Dr.
Allen C. Steere’s study is actually true. I have not really thought much about
Lyme disease since I got it a few years ago, so when I saw this article I knew I
had to choose it for this blog.
Amanda, this was a really interesting article and hit home for me. I go to Maine every summer and my cousins and I are always running around in the woods by the lake and often times coming home with ticks stuck on our legs. I never really considered the dangers that one little bug could cause until one summer my cousin got Lyme disease. After that, no one was allowed to run around in the woods that we had played in since we were kids. I remember my cousin telling me that Lyme disease makes you feel really tired but that being on medicine would help you feel better,even though you'd have the disease for life. The fact that this article says anti-biotics are not helpful is certainly scary. What else can you do to cure lyme disease or even prevent your body from contracting it? I hope that one day such a little bug will no longer be a concern because although they are small there can be big consequences.
ReplyDeleteI remember in middle school a girl got Lyme disease, but they did not catch it right away and she was sick for a long time. It was really scary because she was bit by the tick while walking in the town forest. It is hard to hide from this disease, and it is even scarier that people thought they were getting sick again from a relapse. I feel bad that people who have already had to have gone through having Lyme disease once before are still at risk.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting. It is disturbing that these little ticks can cause such a severe amount of harm. I agree with Mallory it's awful that people who have already had Lyme disease are still at risk. The only way to really prevent Lyme disease is by being cautious.After reading this article I will be sure to check my skin and hair for ticks after being outside.
ReplyDelete