Lyme disease is a worldwide infectious disease and has been reported in all 50 states, 25% of the reported cases are children. Lyme disease had been found on every continent but Antarctica. Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb), the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, is the most complex bacterium known to science. It follows that Lyme disease is a very complex illness, not always easy to diagnose nor treat.

Typically Lyme disease is transmitted through a bite from an infected deer tick. These ticks, often the size of a poppy seed, can leave an undetectable bite. Ticks are NOT the only vector known to carry and transmit Lyme and coinfections.

Fewer than 30% of people infected recall a tick bite or  get the bull’s eye rash. Some develop flu-like symptoms a week or so after becoming infected, however, many people are asymptomatic but can develop Lyme symptoms months, years or decades later.

Common Symptoms include: fatigue, neck stiffness or pain, jaw discomfort, muscle pain, joint aches like arthritis- typically in the knees, swollen glands, memory loss, cognitive confusion, vision problems, digestive issues, headaches and fainting. And More

The Lyme spirochete bacteria is hard to detect and hard to kill. Lyme disease is growing at epidemic proportions in the United States. Lyme disease is the # 1 vector borne disease in the US and is a problem worldwide.

It is called the great imitator; looking like many other health problems (Fibromyalgia, Arthritis, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Bell’s Palsy, ADD/ADHD, ODD, MS and Lupus).

The medical community is divided over the diagnosis and treatment guidelines. Health insurance often doesn’t cover the treatment for Chronic Lyme disease.

The standard and most commonly prescribed for diagnosing Lyme test is the ELISA test. This test, often not sensitive enough to detect Lyme, can produce a false negative when you really do have Lyme. The more sensitive test is called the IgG and IgM Western Blots test, yet still produce a high false negative result. The preferred testing lab is IGeneX Lab in Palo Alto. www.igenex.com.

Initial treatment for NEW infections should be 28 days of an antibiotic, not 2 days, not 14 days. Short term treatment (less than 28 days) or too-low dosage can actually “train” the bacteria to evade the antibiotics and increase chances for a return of symptoms that may be much harder to treat later.

Diagnosis and treatment can be more difficult for a patient infected with co-infections and/or secondary infections. Some co-infections are Babesia, Bartonella, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and others. Secondary infections, such as viral infections, are often the result of severely compromised immune systems caused by the original infection.