What is Lyme disease?
By a tick bite, you can become infected with the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. You will then be given the Lyme disease.
A tick is a small type of spider that lives from blood of mammals and birds. Get the sign the bacteria as they suck up the blood of infected animals. Ticks are found mostly in forests, dunes and fields. They are especially in low bushes, trees and plants, and on damp places. Also in city parks and gardens are sign. The wait for a human or animal character passes by and then drop.
If the bacterium through the tick bite in your body, can that make for mild to severe symptoms. The first phenomenon is often a red ring on the skin around the tick bite. But not everyone gets such a ring. The disease causes further phenomena that also with many other diseases, such as fatigue. As a result, the Lyme disease is not easy to recognize.
How do you get Lyme disease?
Causes of lyme disease
Lyme disease is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. Infected ticks carry these bacteria on to humans. The tick attaches itself to your skin and suck themselves full of blood. The bacterium that is in the body of the tick, comes through the saliva or feces of the tick in contact with your blood.
Not every tick is infected with the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. In the Netherlands, it seems one of five character to be infected with this bacterium.
The longer the tick sucks itself firmly in your skin, the greater the chance of getting Lyme disease. The chance that you will be infected with the bacteria is very small if you take away the tick within 24 hours.
What are the signs and symptoms of Lyme disease?
Lyme disease is very difficult to recognize. The disease shows symptoms that come and go. The symptoms occur in many diseases.
Lyme disease has three phases.
- Phase 1: Three weeks to three months after a tick bite is a red spot around the bite. This place is increasing. After a while, the middle pale. This creates a ring (erythema migrans). This is the only easily recognizable symptom of Lyme. But the ring does not appear at all. Furthermore, people feel in this stage often feverish, with swollen glands, fever and fatigue.
- Phase 2: A few weeks to months after the tick bite the bacteria spread through the body. In particular, in the nervous system, joints and heart. Inflammation in the nervous system is noticeable from double vision, paralysis on one side of the face (Bell's palsy), severe pain in an arm, leg or trunk weakness, paralysis or numbness in the legs, difficulty urinating, or the lake just not may cease. Inflammation give joint pain and swelling, for example knees, shoulders, hips or ankles. If the heart is affected, a person suffering from cardiac arrhythmia and fainting.
- Phase 3: The most striking phenomenon of the third phase is the purple color of the skin, especially on the arms and legs. The skin is on those few red spots swollen and warm. The purple color is here to stay. Further, there are problems with joints or nervous system. For example, joint pain, fatigue, dizziness, just fall over, memory loss, difficulty speaking or writing, getting lost or sleep. These symptoms can be permanent. Lyme disease is chronic.
How do I know if I have Lyme disease?
A doctor can say with certainty that someone has Lyme disease if someone has a red ring on his skin has heard along with the complaints at Lyme (stage 1 of the disease). But the red ring disappears after a while. Furthermore, not everyone gets a ring. And people who get a ring, which do not always see. Ticks often are looking for a place in a cavity (groin, knee, armpit).
In people who do not ring or do not notice him, the disease is much harder to fix. The doctor may give you blood tests. After an infection because the body makes antibodies against the bacteria. These can be seen in the blood. If you have symptoms of Lyme disease and you have antibodies in your blood then it is almost certain that you have Lyme.
What is the treatment for Lyme disease?
Against Lyme disease comes with antibiotics. The sooner treatment begins, the more likely you are left with no complaints from the disease. People who are in the first phase of the disease antibiotics are almost always completely better.
Also, in the second stage, the symptoms tend to be treated. But in some people it lasts for a long time before the pain in the joints is gone. That's because the inflammation in the joints not immediately disappear when the bacterium is dead.
Treatment in the third phase is more difficult. Some people from this group is continuing complaints about Lyme: the purple rash, joint inflammation, pain and fatigue.
Because the risk of infection with Lyme disease is very small, it makes no sense to take antibiotics after every tick bite.
How to prevent Lyme disease?
How can you avoid tick bites while hiking?
- Wear protective clothing (long sleeves, long pants, a hat), closed shoes and put your pant legs into your socks or boots.
- Stay on trails and avoid tall grass or underbrush.
- Lubricate exposed skin with insect repellents. Ask at the pharmacy or pharmacy which way works best.
- Check after the walk or you have a tick somewhere on your body. Look especially in the knee cavity, groin, armpits or behind the ear.