Late Stage Lyme Disease

Named after the place it was first reported, Lyme disease is now a nationwide concern; no longer the preserve of old lyme Connecticut. Lyme disease is a disease that spread through ticks; and therefore spreads more during fall and spring; a time of favorable weather conditions for the thriving of ticks. There is a wide variety of tick species, some too small to spot. You are more likely to get infected with Lyme disease if you have tick infested pets in your home. The agent of Lyme disease is a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi which is carried by ticks. Not all ticks carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. Only those that have bitten an infected animal carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria and are likely to bring the disease to your household.

Doing any activity that exposes you to ticks will put you in risk of contracting Lyme disease; e.g. nature walks gardening and hiking. If you have to walk, make sure you have covered your body to prevent tick bites or use insect repellants on your skin. Since there is only do much you can do to avoid being bitten by a tick, here are the symptoms of lyme disease, which should sound the alarm incase you suspect that you were bitten by a tick. During the first stages of the disease, you will have high fever and chills and you will feel tired and a little drowsy. Lyme disease more often goes unnoticed since many people treat the symptoms as flu. A simple dose of over the counter medication might get rid of the flu but not for long. It is only when it has advanced that the sufferer realizes that he was infected with Lyme disease. If you have the chills, a rash and bite marks on your skin, then Lyme disease is a suspect.

The good news is that not everybody who has been bitten by a tick will get Lyme disease; only those who were bitten by an infected tick will you get Lyme disease. At the late stages of Lyme disease, it is treated by antibiotics, which take a longer time since the disease is at an advanced stage. It is important to detect the disease in its early stages to prevent the complications that come with treating late stage Lyme disease. If the infected person is expectant or below the age of 7, the antibiotics are prescribed in smaller doses to counter the effects on the body. If not treated at the earliest possible opportunity, advanced Lyme disease affects the nervous system, an may destroy the vital organs of the body.

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