Lyme disease is caused by a spirochete-shaped bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. Ticks transmit Lyme disease to humans. The illness can be divided into three stages. The late stages of Lyme disease affect multiple body systems. Lyme disease is curable with physician-prescribed antibiotics.
Stage One
Stage One Lyme disease symptoms are similar to the flu. A rash shaped like a bull's-eye often occurs at the site of the tick bite. If a tick bite is not identified, it is possible that Lyme disease can go undetected at this stage. The disease may then progress.
Stage Two
In secondary Lyme disease, the symptoms affect the nervous, musculoskeletal and cardiac systems. Symptoms of secondary, or early disseminated, Lyme disease include blurred vision, hallucinations, confusion, speech impairment, heart palpitations, numbness, tingling, joint inflammation and facial paralysis.
A general feeling of fatigue, lethargy or malaise can also accompany early disseminated Lyme disease.
Stage Three
The third stage, also known as chronic Lyme disease, can occur in people who have already been treated at the former stages. Conversely, some patients may not know they have the disease at all because the earlier symptoms were mild.
Chronic Lyme disease can occur in patients several months to years after the initial infection. These late symptoms include chronic arthritis and inflammation of the large joints, mood changes, headaches, trouble sleeping and impaired consciousness.
Considerations
Symptoms such as arthritis and lethargy may continue even after treatment of chronic Lyme disease. This is sometimes referred to as post-Lyme disease syndrome. Continued use of antibiotics is not usually helpful in its treatment. Some physicians and scientists argue that this syndrome should not be associated with Lyme disease at all, especially if there is no evidence of current or past infection with B. burgdorferi.
Statistics
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that the incidence of Lyme disease increased 101 percent during the period of 1992 to 2006. The majority of cases reported were from New England to the upper Midwest.
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