The CDC is catching up with something that patients have known for a long time, ie, that Lyme disease is more common than most health professionals have realized. This week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed that roughly 300,000 Americans catch Lyme disease each year, ten times more than it had previously suspected. Until now, patients and doctors were told that there were about 30,000 cases a year. But Paul Mead, M.D., M.P.H., chief of epidemiology and surveillance for the CDCs Lyme disease program, now admits: We know that routine surveillance only gives us part of the picture, and that the true number of illnesses is much greater. This new preliminary estimate confirms that Lyme disease is a tremendous public health problem in the United States, and clearly highlights the urgent need for prevention. Easier said than done. Ticks are everywhere, even in cities. They are not always easy to detect. People may not even realize they have been bitten. Once bitten, there is not always a rash. Symptoms may creep up slowly so that a patient might not realize for weeks or months that something is seriously wrong. We are convinced that Lyme is a risk in many more states than most public health officials realize. And Lyme is not the only concern. There are many other tick-borne disease to consider. The CDC lists the following on its website, along with the ticks that transmit them: Anaplasmosis (Ixodes scapularis) Babesiosis (Babesia microti) Ehrlichiosis (Ambylomma americanum) Powassan virus (Ixodes scapularis, Ixodes cookei or Ixodes marxi) Rickettsiosis (Amblyomma maculatum) Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever (Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor andersoni or Rhipicephalus sangunineus) Southern Tick-Associated Rash Illness (STARI) (Ambylomma americanum) Tickborne relapsing fever (TBRF) Tularemia (Dermacentor variabilis, Dermacentor andersoni or Amblyomma americanum) BARTONELLA And then there is Bartonellosis. The CDC doesnt mention that the bacteria that cause this condition (Bartonella) can be caught from ticks, fleas and biting flies (including sand flies). Bartonella has been known as cat scratch disease for years and was thought to be a short-lived infection. There is now growing recognition, however, that Bartonellosis can be transmitted by a variety of arthropods and can be both hard to diagnose and very hard to treat. In fact, many of these tick-borne diseases can be harder to diagnose and treat than many health professionals have realized. Physicians have believed for decades that a short course of antibiotics can knock out most infections. Ten days or two weeks of treatment are supposed to do the trick. That is often true for pneumonia, urinary tract infections, sinusitis or even Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. It may not be as true for Lyme disease or Bartonellosis. One of the most controversial issues in medicine today is chronic Lyme disease. A recent article in the Boston Globe titled When the cure doesnt end the pain suggests that up to 25 percent of people treated for Lyme disease report lingering symptoms, lasting from days to years. Many doctors are doubtful. When patients complain about fatigue, weakness, brain fog, joint pain, dizziness, confusion and neurological symptoms, they are sometimes told they are suffering from a psychosomatic disorder. Infectious disease experts, the health professionals we rely on for a deep understanding of bacterial infections, have been especially skeptical. The bacteria that are responsible for Lyme are often hard to detect after antibiotic therapy.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 00:04:25 +0000
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