Tips On The Question; Is There A Cure For Lyme Disease?

By Daphne Bowen


Lyme borreliosis, the other term for Lyme disease is a disease caused by bacterial infection. This bacteria is spread by ticks of the borrelia type or species. It gets to human beings through a tick bite from an infected tick. The tick gets the infection from host animals that are infected. Such animals include deer and mice. The bacterium however, is not carried by all ticks. Treatment of many diseases has been developed due to their prevalence. Due to this, vast developments have also been taken in developing the cure of Lyme disease. Elaboration of the question;is there a cure for lyme disease, has been done below.

It takes about 36 to 48 hours for an infected tick to transmit the disease into you once it attaches itself. Such ticks are small and difficult to notice. They also hide in areas that are difficult to see such as the armpits, groin or scalp. Once the disorder gets into you, erythema migran, which is an expanding area of redness is the common indicator. This occurs around a week after the bite. This rash is neither itchy nor painful.

High temperatures, frequent headaches and fatigue are the other signs that follow. With continued infection, joints, the face, neck, heart and muscles are also affected. The resulting signs and symptoms are because of these systemic infections. Neck rigidity and muscle cramps are other signs and symptoms resulting from the infection. Inflammation of the meninges may occur if the infection spreads to the brain. Basing on these symptoms a diagnosis is possibly made. However, true diagnosis is made though blood tests.

Getting cured from the disorder is very possible. The chances of getting cured without complications are increased with early diagnosis and treatment of this disease. Complications arising from the disease may occur if diagnosis is made at a later stage, after the disorder has spread.

For curative treatment, antibiotics have been proven effective. The first line drug in the treatment of this disorder is Doxycycline. In addition to being able to cure the disease, Doxycycline has an added advantage of being able to treat other diseases caused by ticks. Every drug has side effects. For Doxycycline, the side effects appear to be fatal for children less than eight of age and women who are pregnant.

Amoxicillin and azithromycin, also antibiotics, act as second line medications for treating the disorder. They are effective when administered either orally or intravenously. The period of treatment varies and usually ranges from one week to four weeks to completely eliminate the disorder. This duration is however determined by the severity of the disease process. It has been proved that starting the treatment within the first two weeks of infection is effective but this is not possible since the bacteria can be visualized in blood for diagnosis after five weeks.

Preventing any disorder is more economical than curing it. Preventing Lyme disorder would be wise therefore than treating it. Several means to prevent the disease have been put up. Vaccination proved more effective than the other protective means. The production of particular vaccines stopped because of limited market available.

Wearing of protective clothing such as long sleeved hat and long trousers or boots is another preventive method. Also, light colored clothing make the tick easily visible for removal before it attaches itself. Using insect repellents, keeping off long grass and reducing contacts with primary hosts, deer and mice would also help in prevention.




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