If you’ve discovered a tick on your body DO NOT PANIC. Remove the ticks from the attachment site, and be thorough. If you begin to experience a fever, headaches, and/or fatigue, these are indications of lyme disease and you should contact your doctor.

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection that initially causes the victim to suffer the symptoms mentioned and causes a rash to form. Lyme disease will grow progressively into an acute disease if left untreated, targeting the joints to cause erosion alike to rheumatoid arthritis, chronic inflammation of the brain called encephalitis that gives flu-like symptoms, and encephalomyelitis that inflames the brain and spinal cord.

What causes it?

Lyme disease is transmitted when infected blacklegged (deer) ticks feed on you. In order for the disease to be transmitted, a tick would have to be attached for 36-48 hours to leave the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria in your system. They’re prevalent in the eastern United States in the North East and Mid-Atlantic regions, up north in the North-Central region, and west, along the Pacific Coast. They’re found in wooded areas, especially near trails. With such a pervasive insect, is there a treatment for lyme disease?

Is There a Lyme Disease Cure?

Lyme disease is a bacterial infection, which means it will be fought off with antibiotics. With early discovery and treatment, 90% of cases are completely cured in 3 weeks. More progressed cases will take significantly longer, but are also usually treated successfully. The typical treatment for lyme disease is to insert the antibiotics in one of two ways: oral and intravenous. Although the lyme disease cure rate is highly successful, after treatment, it’s not uncommon for patients to experience chronic lyme disease in the form of continued fatigue or headaches for up to 6 months.

Oral Antibiotics

If the infection is caught early, the typical lyme disease treatment is to take certain antibiotics orally for several weeks. The kind you take will depend on your age. As an adult or child older than 8, you would be given doxycycline, an antibiotic that invades the bacteria and stops it from multiplying itself. For younger children, they’re likely to get antibiotics cephin or amoxicillin, which is similar to penicillin, to avoid negative reactions to doxycycline. These puncture the cell wall to kill the bacteria. If the infection has been allowed to progress in the body, lyme disease treatment will mean taking the oral medication for a much longer period. However, it may also involve injecting the antibiotics into the veins.

Intravenous Antibiotics

When the central nervous system has been affected, or if meningitis or lyme arthritis are present, it becomes necessary to inject the antibiotics directly into the veins of the patient. The antibiodics used for intravenous transmission are the same, but this method will allow the drugs to enter the body faster and more effectively.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the treatment of lyme disease is simple, straightforward, and highly successful. However, it’s better to know how to prevent tick bites and avoid the hospital trip altogether.