Lyme+Disease+Wiki+PK


 * Lyme Disease Outbreak by Patricia Kelley**





Where:
 * Old Lyme, Conneticut

__**A Map of Areas at Risk for Lyme Disease**__



When:
 * 1975-76

How?
 * In a one year period, fifty-one people were experiencing uncommon juvenile rheumatoid arthritus symptoms which include; swollen or stiff joints, rashes and high fever.
 * By 1977, scientists linked to the Icodes scapularis (black-legged or deer) tick as the transmitter of the disease and by 1982, the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi, was discovered as the culprit.
 * Environmental changes in the Connecticut area are blamed for the advanced spread of Lyme Disease.
 * As Connecticut more industrialized, old agricultural farms were turned into new forests and a new habitat for deer.
 * Also, as the population in Connecticut increased, so did the human to deer contact.
 * *Ticks can also move from pets to people*



Are there any treatments for Lyme disease?
 * Federal funding for Lyme disease research began in 1991, and by 1997 a vaccine became available. Though by 2001, the vaccine was taken off the market.
 * Symptoms can be eliminated with antibiotics, but only if the disease is caught early.
 * If the disease is left untreated, it results in a multitude of problems such as neurological disorders (twitching) and neuropsychiatric disturbances (memory loss, mood sings, sleeping problems)
 * The late-stage Lyme disease is often called the "great imitator" because it is has so many multi-faceted symptoms that it is commonly misdiagnosed as Multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, rhematoid arthritus and other autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases.

Bibliography: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/epidemic/section_07/secseven_pg_12.html (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyme_disease ([|http://www.kidshealth.org/parent/medical/arthritis/jra.html)]