It all starts with a redness, a particular skin rash compared to simple insect and mosquito bites: the shape is circular, generally it doesn’t itch and tends to expand. These are some of the features visible to the naked eye Lyme disease caused by the sting of ticks.
What are the symptoms
As mentioned, this rash is observed in its initial phase but, within a few weeks, the affected patient begins to feel:
- muscle aches
- articolar pains
- exhaustion
- enlarged lymph nodes
- fever with chills and headache
If a patient is immunosuppressed or has other conditions, Lyme disease can be more aggressive. As the experts explain, three distinct phases then occur: early localized, early disseminated and late. In the first case, 75% of patients will have the rash a couple of days after being infected with the tick. In the “early disseminated”, instead, there are the symptoms described above that begin to appear after a few weeks while the late phase, if not treated, begins months or years after the initial infection with l’artrite developing in 60% of patients over several months and up to two years later. For a long time you will have to contend with “episodes of intermittent swelling and pain in some large joints, especially the knees. Affected knees are usually more swollen than tender; they are often warm but rarely red,” the professionals explain.
Diagnostic tests
Careful clinical evaluation is required to know if you have Lyme disease blood tests both in the early and late stages. In the specific case, blood cultures and cultures of samples of biological fluids of interest are performed so as to understand if there is also the presence of other pathogens: therefore, the diagnosis of Lyme disease is based on the results of very specific tests and signals ( eg the erythema that moves).
What are the treatments
The disease comes cleanse usually with some specific drugs such as amoxicillin (antibiotic), doxycycline (treats various bacterial infections) and ceftriaxone (antibacterial injection). “Most clinical manifestations of Lyme disease respond to antibiotics, but treating the disease early is more effective. In late-stage disease, antibiotics kill the germ, relieving arthritis in most patients.” the experts explained. Sometimes you can use NSAIDs, i.e. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, while a possible heart block may require a temporary pacemaker.
Experimental vaccine
For the first time, however, being tested at Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden, there is a Vaccine ad hoc against Lyme disease. “A new vaccine will likely be on the market within a couple of years” said Johan Sanmartin Berglund, professor of applied health technology at the Blekinge Institute of Technology. To reassure the population we also say that not all ticks carry this disease, it is 20%. The vaccine study has been going on for more than a year year and the patients who are part of the trials are about to receive the third dose of the vaccine.”It’s difficult to produce a Lyme disease vaccine because the bacterium exists in so many different variants Berglund added. in the preliminary study we mapped which types of Lyme disease are present in Europe and which ones need to be covered by the vaccine“. Potential date for market release is 2026.