World Lyme Day Brochure
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Lyme disease is a tick-borne illness caused by the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium. It is the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States, infecting around 300,000 new cases per year. Symptoms can vary between individuals but may include flu-like symptoms initially and a characteristic bullseye rash, with potential later symptoms affecting the joints, heart, nervous system and other organs if left untreated. Diagnosis is challenging as symptoms can mimic other conditions and standard testing is not always accurate. Prevention involves avoiding tick-infested areas and thoroughly checking for ticks after being outdoors.
World Lyme Day Brochure
- 1. Avoid tick-infested areas, such as leaf litter under trees. Avoid brushing against long grasses and brush on edges of paths. Dont sit on stumps or fallen logs. Wear light-colored long pants and long sleeves so you can easily see any ticks. Tuck shirt into pants and tuck pants into socks. Use DEET on skin and treat clothing with spray containing permethrin. Do a thorough tick check upon returning inside and for several days following exposure. Check bedding for several days following exposure for ticks that drop off. Ticks, especially nymphal ticks, are tiny. Find and remove them before they bite What To Do If You Are Bitten Use fine-point tweezers or a special tick- removing tool. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. If you dont have tweezers, protect your fingers with a tissue. Pull the tick straight out with steady, even pressure. Click here to view a Tick's Mouth and why it is so important to pull out the tick correctly. A hidden pandemic An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure LYME DISEASE is the fastest growing vector-borne, infectious disease in the United States. There are 5 subspecies of borrelia burgdorferi, over 100 strains in the US, and 300 strains WORLDWIDE. Lyme disease a PANDEMIC. Its larger than AIDS, West Nile Virus, and Avian Flu COMBINED! CDC reports: Lyme disease infects 300,000 people a year. 10 times more Americans than previously reported. Fewer than 50% of patients with Lyme disease recall a tick bite or a rash. There are NO tests available to PROVE that the organism is ERADICATED or that the patient is CURED.
- 2. Website: www.worldlymeday.com Email: worldlymeday@gmail.com www.lymedisease.org www.canlyme.com www.ilads.org system, muscles and joints, heart and circulation, digestion, reproductive system, and skin. Symptoms may disappear even without treatment and different symptoms may appear at different times. Testing Diagnosing Lyme disease is extremely challenging. Lyme victims are commonly misdiagnosed with other illnesses, and, when a proper diagnosis is made, its often difficult to verify because accurate testing isnt available. There are two common antibody tests for Lyme: ELISA and Western blot test. Most times patients may test negative when they actually have been infected. Hundreds of thousands of sick, disabled and dying people are intentional- ly being denied proper testing, diagnoses and treatment. Lyme disease treatment guidelines stand in the way of proper treatment and diagnoses. There are various amounts of advocates desperately spread- ing awareness and making it possible to make the necessary changes to one day find a cure . Wont you be a Change Maker/ Hope Spreader? Lyme disease is an infection caused by a spirochete (say SPY-ROH-KEET) that humans can get from the bite of an infected deer tick. The spirochete's scientific name is Borrelia burgdorferi. Lyme disease is called The Great Imitator because its symptoms mimic many other diseases. It can affect any organ of the body, including the brain and nervous system, muscles and joints, and the heart. Scientists recognize more than a dozen tickborne diseases in the United States and new ones are still being discovered. One tick may carry more than one disease, so sometimes people get more than one co- infection from the bite of a single tick. Lyme disease has been found on every continent except Antarctica. It is found all across the United States. It seems to be spreading. An average Deer Tick lives for two years and can survive in very cold climates. Although infec- tion rates drop in the winter its still possible to contract Lyme. Not all ticks are infected. Within endemic areas, there is considerable variation locally, depending on type of habitat, pres- ence of wildlife, and other factors. People usually get Lyme disease from ticks infected with Lyme spiro- chetes. of a poppy seed. Because their bite is painless, many people do not realize they have been bitten. Symptoms Early in the infection, many people experience a flu-like illness that may clear up without treatment. Some people get a rash around the site of the tick bite. Most of the time the rash is an ordinary red area, however if it is a bulls-eye shape with a darker edge, it is a definite sign of Lyme dis- ease and needs im- mediate treatment. There are over 100 different symptoms of Lyme disease, so its hard to detect, and even harder to properly diagnose and treat. Sadly, its not uncommon for patients to be told that their symptoms are all in their head, or to be treated for the wrong disease. Lyme disease initially affects every- one differently, with symptoms ranging from mild to se- vere. However, as time passes the disease becomes more debilitating. Symptoms may come and go in varying de- grees, with fluctuation from one symptom to another. Some victims experience a period that feels like remission, only to be followed by another onset of symptoms. The longer Lyme disease goes untreated, the harder it is to fight. Undi- agnosed Lyme disease will affect a patient over the course of their entire lifetime Early symptoms may include fever, headache, fatigue, de- pression, and a characteristic circular skin rash called ery- thema migrans (EM ). If Lyme disease is not diagnosed and treated early, the Lyme spirochetes can spread and may go into hiding in your body. Weeks, months or even years later you may have problems with your brain and nervous Lyme Disease The