Little Tick, Big Problem: The Great Lyme Disease

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Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection that was discovered in the early 1970s. It is caused by a tick that feeds on rodents, and white-tailed deer later in their life cycle. Signs and symptoms can vary from one person to another, affected people don’t experience all of the symptoms, neither do they go in the same cycle and stages of the disease. The safest way to possibly handle and fight this disease is having it diagnosed as early as possible to be able to have it treated quickly. Although this disease can be a little bit disturbing and alarming, it is said to be rarely fatal. However, there are some guidelines on how someone can prevent this to happen to them.
Little Tick, Big Problem: The Great Lyme
45 years ago, in the mid-1970s, numerous tick-borne diseases have been identified in humans. One of these surfacing illnesses are the trio that are both socially and clinically relevant in the United States. One …show more content…

This bacteria is transmitted to humans through deer ticks, or black-legged ticks (I. dammini and I. pacificus). According to CDC (as cited in Mayer & Pizer, 2008), Lyme disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the world. The life cycle of these disease-causing ticks occur in a 2-year period, which includes the time of them being eggs to the feeding of the larva on small rodents, gradually progressing until they become adults and reach the stage of feeding on white-tailed deer and other larger mammals. These ticks mate, and may eventually fall off their host, which starts the struggle of them finding another host. A preferred host has to have shade, and a high level of humidity; unfortunately, it can be found in humans. Their size can be compared to the size of a poppy seed, making them almost impossible to detect. This disease was nationally recognized as a notifiable disease in January 1991. The state with the highest number of Lyme disease cases was New

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