Lyme Disease Incapacitated by Tick Bite?

Incapacitated by tick bite? Lyme disease underestimated to this day.

(20.08.2010) The patient organization „Lyme Disease and TBE Bund Germany“ and the German Borreliosis Society in Berlin warn as well as the Federal Ministry of Health for a long time before the tick-borne illness. To date, around one million people in Germany have been infected with Lyme disease.

Exact figures on the number of infections, however, are only available in eastern Germany, since there is already a medical reporting obligation for Lyme disease. In the West German federal states this will be introduced only in the coming years. There are no vaccinations to protect against Lyme disease, because the bacteria are constantly changing their surface and therefore provide no starting point for an effective vaccine. The so-called „Ceiling vaccination“ only helps against the transfer of „Tick-General Political“ (TBE), a disease also commonly transmitted by ticks.

Ticks carrying Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria will pass them on to the host after about one to two hours. An infection often manifests itself in those affected by a ring-red skin or rash in the area of ​​the tick bite, sometimes accompanied by flu and headache, neck pain, muscle and joint pain. In the early stages of the disease Lyme disease is relatively good to treat with the help of antibiotics, which leads to a cure in about 90 percent of cases.

However, the problem lies in the early diagnosis, because if the disease is already in an advanced stage, there are few treatment options. Lyme disease thus easily becomes a chronic disease with serious consequences for those affected. The pathogens migrate in the body and infect numerous organs, joints, muscles, and nerves. Inflammations of the nervous system, heart muscle, joints or meninges, regularly accompanied by motor disorders, concentration problems and mental disorders, such. Depression and dementia are signs of chronic Lyme disease. Paralysis and death have also been reported in association with Lyme disease, but are the rare exception. On the other hand, the infection often ends in lifelong pain, inability to work and the destruction of social relationships, according to internist Walter Berghoff of the German Lyme Disease Society.

Since the prospects of success of the treatment are essentially related to an early diagnosis, asked the Federal Government Commissioner for Patients Wolfgang Zöller (CSU) in a recent press release, „finally a common action of doctors, science and health insurance companies“, to remedy the existing research, diagnostic and treatment deficits. Problems with the diagnosis are mainly due to the lack of clear symptoms. Even the mating phenomenon considered characteristic occurs only in about 50 percent of the patients affected. In addition, the tests for detecting the disease may be flawed because the test procedures are not standardized and are offered by various manufacturers, according to the specialist in the Borreliosis Center Augsburg, Armin Schwarzbach. In addition, there are only two different test methods that are currently used as a two-stage test method to build on each other. Initially, the ELISA test is performed, which is verified by the Western blot test if the result is positive. However, the ELISA test is extremely inaccurate and often gives incorrect results, making it much more difficult to diagnose Lyme disease at an early stage. For example, over 75 percent of patients with chronic Lyme disease underwent a negative ELISA test, while the Western blot test was positive. (Fp)

Also read:
Ticks: increase in Lyme disease cases
Ticks: alarm in Germany?
Prevention: Do not panic with ticks
Patient Representative Announces Lyme Law

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