WEBVTT - How Does Lyme Disease Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Boglebaum. Here. July and August mark the

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<v Speaker 1>high season for lime disease if you're in an area

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<v Speaker 1>of the United States where lime is inclined to fester,

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<v Speaker 1>that being the mid Atlantic and northeastern regions of the

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<v Speaker 1>country mainly, but it has been spreading this time of

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<v Speaker 1>year might make you a little nervous about being outdoors

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<v Speaker 1>and wood see grassy or leafy areas where you might

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<v Speaker 1>encounter ticks carrying the disease. According to the United States

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<v Speaker 1>Centers for Disease Control, the number of confirmed cases of

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<v Speaker 1>lyme disease here more than doubled from the most recent

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<v Speaker 1>year of data, and cases increased seventeen percent between twenty

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<v Speaker 1>six and seventeen alone. Well cases used to be mostly

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<v Speaker 1>isolated to the Northeast. Now the CDC considers half the

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<v Speaker 1>counties in the United States high risk for lime disease.

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<v Speaker 1>Lime disease, first idea deified in the US in the

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen seventies, isn't particularly mysterious or anywhere close to untreatable,

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<v Speaker 1>Despite the horror stories that you may have heard. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>lime disease should not be taken lightly. If you think

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<v Speaker 1>you might have it, you do need to see a doctor,

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<v Speaker 1>and the sooner the better. As with most illnesses. By

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<v Speaker 1>some estimates, somewhere around three hundred thousand possible cases of

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<v Speaker 1>it are diagnosed every year, but the vast majority of

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<v Speaker 1>those cases are handled with a simple round of oral antibiotics.

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<v Speaker 1>If caught early, especially, people recover quickly and completely. Okay,

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<v Speaker 1>but let's back up a step. What is lime disease.

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<v Speaker 1>Lime disease is an infection caused by the Bacterium aurelia

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<v Speaker 1>erg door free, which is transmitted through those tiny, bitey,

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<v Speaker 1>black legged ticks. You can't transmit lime disease through sexual

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<v Speaker 1>contact or kissing or holding hands with a person who's

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<v Speaker 1>been infected, and nor can you pass it through breast milk.

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<v Speaker 1>Lime disease is often characterized by some TEMs like fatigue, headache, fever,

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<v Speaker 1>and most tellingly, an expanding skin rash that's called air

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<v Speaker 1>thema migrants and normally look circular with a bull's eye

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<v Speaker 1>in the middle. The rash usually pops up anywhere from

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<v Speaker 1>three to thirty days after a tick bite, the average

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<v Speaker 1>time being about a week. Given the chance ticks will

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<v Speaker 1>latch onto you and feed on your blood during the

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<v Speaker 1>late spring and summer months, and they often latch in

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<v Speaker 1>hard to see places like in the hair of your scalp,

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<v Speaker 1>in your armpits, or your crotch. Ticks normally have to

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<v Speaker 1>be attached for thirty six to forty eight hours or

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<v Speaker 1>even longer in order to transmit the bacteria, which is

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<v Speaker 1>why it's a good idea to check yourself immediately and

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<v Speaker 1>thoroughly when you've been in areas where ticks hang out.

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<v Speaker 1>If lime disease goes untreated and gets into later stages weeks,

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<v Speaker 1>two months or even more after the bite, it can

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<v Speaker 1>cause things like temporary facial paralysis or severe swelling and

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<v Speaker 1>darthritis and joints. It's more rare to experience heart palpitation,

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<v Speaker 1>which happened when the bacteria invades the heart. This occurs

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<v Speaker 1>in just about one percent of reported cases of lyme disease.

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<v Speaker 1>Other severe symptoms are possible, but still even then treatment

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<v Speaker 1>is generally very effective. The problem with diagnosing lime disease

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<v Speaker 1>is that it involves symptoms that are common to many

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<v Speaker 1>other illnesses. I mean headache, fever, fatigued soreness, that could

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<v Speaker 1>be anything. The key to diagnosis is often the rash,

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<v Speaker 1>which occurs in up to of lyme disease cases. If

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<v Speaker 1>you see that after a bite, or if you come

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<v Speaker 1>down with that or other symptoms after hanging out where

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<v Speaker 1>ticks may live, talk to a medical professional so that

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<v Speaker 1>they can make an informed diagnosis. Blood tests may be helpful,

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<v Speaker 1>though they can also be tricky and in some circles,

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<v Speaker 1>controversial too. It takes a while for humans to produce

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<v Speaker 1>the antibodies that are measured by a blood test, so

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<v Speaker 1>if you're tested too soon, you might get a negative

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<v Speaker 1>result even if you are infected, and the first test

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes can come up false positive too, and that's why

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<v Speaker 1>experts like the CDC call for a two tiered test

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<v Speaker 1>to confirm diagnosis. If the first test is positive, doctors

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes will call for a different type of test, a

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<v Speaker 1>Western blot test, which can identify specific classes of the

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<v Speaker 1>antibody that your body is producing. It's important to note

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<v Speaker 1>here that some patient advocate groups aren't very trusting of

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<v Speaker 1>the tests or the guidelines on how lyme disease should

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<v Speaker 1>be treated. For the article, this episode is based on

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<v Speaker 1>how Stuff Works. Spoke with Philip Baker, the executive director

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<v Speaker 1>of the American Lime Disease Foundation. Baker previously spent more

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<v Speaker 1>than thirty years as a research scientist at the National

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<v Speaker 1>Institutes of Health, many of them involved with lyme disease.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, there's so much misinformation out there. That's why

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<v Speaker 1>I do what I do. You can't go by symptoms

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<v Speaker 1>alone to diagnose lyme disease. There are at least two

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty or two hundred and sixty different medical

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<v Speaker 1>conditions that have symptoms that are almost what people see

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<v Speaker 1>with lyme disease. What you need a reliable, objective laboratory

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<v Speaker 1>tests to make the diagnosis. The tests for lyme disease

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<v Speaker 1>are very good, very reliable tests. Once a positive diagnosis

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<v Speaker 1>is made for lime disease, treatment is relatively simple and straightforward,

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<v Speaker 1>usually involving an oral antibiotic for fourteen two twenty one days.

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<v Speaker 1>A relief from symptoms often comes within days of starting treatment.

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<v Speaker 1>Late stage lime disease, defined as weeks, months, or years

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<v Speaker 1>after the bite, may call for intravenous antibiotics. These treatments

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<v Speaker 1>do the trick for most people, though if lime disease

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<v Speaker 1>isn't caught until the late stages, it can do lasting damage.

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<v Speaker 1>Some affective patients report continuing symptoms even after treatment, what's

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<v Speaker 1>sometimes called chronic lime disease. This is the most debated

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<v Speaker 1>topic in the lame disease community. Most experts and studies

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<v Speaker 1>don't recognize a chronic form of the disease. The antibiotics,

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<v Speaker 1>they say, read the body of the infection. They believe

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<v Speaker 1>the continuing symptoms what's known as post treatment lime disease syndrome,

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<v Speaker 1>are the result of an autoimmune response that lasts after

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<v Speaker 1>the infect is gone. And despite these varying views, the

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<v Speaker 1>key point here is that lyme disease, especially if caught early,

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<v Speaker 1>is eminently treatable, and a large part of that depends

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<v Speaker 1>on the awareness of a person who may be infected,

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<v Speaker 1>So look out for those symptoms if you suspect you've

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<v Speaker 1>had exposure to ticks. The best way to deal with

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<v Speaker 1>lime disease, of course, is to not get it in

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<v Speaker 1>the first place. Avoid ticks by staying away from especially

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<v Speaker 1>woody or leafy spots in the late spring or summer.

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<v Speaker 1>If you live in a tick heavy area or an

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<v Speaker 1>area of the country known for lyme disease, be especially

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<v Speaker 1>aware one outdoors in such areas. Use bug repellents like

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<v Speaker 1>deep and treat your clothes and footwear with the insecticide

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<v Speaker 1>per methren. They'll technically dear ticks are a Racknet's not insects,

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<v Speaker 1>but it works on them too. Once you come indoors,

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<v Speaker 1>check your clothes and footwear so that you're not carrying

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<v Speaker 1>ticks into the house and shower as soon as you

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<v Speaker 1>can after exposure to ticks, and check all over your body,

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<v Speaker 1>and check the kids and pets too. If you do

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<v Speaker 1>find one. Here's how to remove it. A Snag it

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<v Speaker 1>as close to the skin as you can with a

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<v Speaker 1>pair of your best skinny tweezers and pull slowly straight out.

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<v Speaker 1>Don't twist. If a piece of the bug stays in

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<v Speaker 1>the skin, don't mess with it too much. The area

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<v Speaker 1>could become infected. Wash the area with soap and water

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<v Speaker 1>or rubbing alcohol, and the skin should push it out

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<v Speaker 1>on its own. The CDC suggests that you dispose of

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<v Speaker 1>a live tick by putting it in alcohol, placing it

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<v Speaker 1>in a sealed bag, wrapping it tightly in tape, or

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<v Speaker 1>flushing it down the toilet. Remember it generally takes at

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<v Speaker 1>least thirty six hours for a latched tick to transmit

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<v Speaker 1>the bacterium to you. If you catch a tick before

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<v Speaker 1>it gets too settled, you can nip lime disease in

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<v Speaker 1>the butt. Today's episode is based on the article getting

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<v Speaker 1>a Grip on Lime Disease on how stuff works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by John Donovan. Brain Stuff is production of by

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how s toforks dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>and it's produced by Tyler playing in Ramsey Out four

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<v Speaker 1>more podcasts my heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,

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