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Lyme Disease Treatment Options

Overview

Lyme disease (also called borreliosis) is an acute inflammatory disease marked by rashes, joint swelling, and fever. It is a bacterial infection carried by an infected black-legged deer tick. The ticks become infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the causal bacteria, after feeding on infected birds, mice, or deer.

It is the most common tick-transmitted disease in the United States and Europe. It’s also more likely to affect those who live around wooded areas, where transmission is most prevalent. If you have livestock that visits wooded areas, you’re also at risk of infection. This is because ticks inhabit wooded areas more than other places. For transmission to happen, the tick must stay up to 36 hours on your skin.

People with Lyme disease present with headaches, swollen lymph nodes, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, and a flat, round rash that can appear anywhere on the body. The symptoms don’t always appear immediately after infection. It may take months or years. Many people don’t even recollect ever being bitten by deer tick by the time the symptoms appear.

Lyme disease [1] is divided into three stages which may sometimes overlap. These are early localized, early disseminated, and late disseminated. The presented symptoms will vary with the stage.

Lyme disease is best treated in its early stages. Antibiotic therapy is the most common way to treat Lyme disease but other treatment options have been suggested. Here are some: