Lyme Disease, Part 2

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

Lyme disease is escalating to epidemic proportions here in the United States. There is much controversy surrounding it. Too many people are still being told it is all in their head. Each year thousands of people go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed. There are many establishment doctors that still do not believe chronic Lyme exists. There are those who still believe that only ticks can infect a person, and those who do not believe you can get the disease, even if you actually see an imbedded tick and get it out, within 24-36 hours.

So where does the truth lie? Well, here are some of the things the experts on Lyme are putting forth.

Lyme can be contracted from many sources: ticks, mosquitos, spiders, fleas, and mites, to name a few. This is probably why so few people with Lyme recall a tick bite. There is also increasing evidence that Lyme disease may be transmitted sexually and congenitally. That is somewhat controversial at this point, but the evidence is mounting.

Lyme Disease, Part 1

Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.

This week, we will start a series of articles on Lyme disease. Much of this information was compiled by Dr. Mercola in a recent article he penned for his email newsletter. In my research, the data I’ve found on many internet sites points to Lyme disease as an epidemic just now being recognized for the horror it has become.

Lyme disease was named after the town of Lyme, Connecticut, where it was first identified in 1975. (Yes, it is Lyme, not Lyme’s disease.) Initially, it was named “Lyme arthritis” due to the presentation of atypical arthritis in children of that town. It took until 1977 to discover the “deer tick” was linked to the transmission of the disease.

It wasn’t until 1082 that the bacteria responsible for the disease were discovered by Dr. Willy Burgdorfer. The Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, named after him, and a cousin to the bacteria which causes syphilis, was the culprit in this disease.