August 2009

Lyme disease is a prevalent and often debilitating illness that is spread in the Northeast US by the deer tick /black legged tick.  It is caused by bacteria called Borrelia burgdorferi and it is a spirochete. Spirochetes are shaped similar to a corkscrew and have the ability to act like one, burrowing into living tissue as described by Chunhao Li, et al. in Gyrations, Rotations, Periplasmic Flagella: The Biology of Spirochete Motility, “The common morphological structure of spirochetes allows these organisms to bore through highly viscous gel-like media, such as connective tissues, which inhibit the motility of most other bacteria…Leptospira and other spirochetes increase their speed in media with a higher viscosity.” There are eight different types of spirochetes and they are the most ancient bacteria on Earth with some causing disease and some beneficial to other life forms working symbiotically to maintain health. Please remember not to see all bacteria as an enemy, as they are our ancestors and without them life on Earth would not be possible. 

Lyme disease is  an emerging disease and, although not new, it has somehow become the most prevalent vector borne disease in the temperate U.S. In the region where I live, neither Lyme nor deer ticks have been a concern until just recently. We have not had the cold winters of the past and in the last couple of years have seen an increase in tick populations and, naturally, Lyme disease, although there have not been any public announcements made to alert citizens living in my community to this new concern.  I have for the first time this year, pulled several ticks from my dog, one from my daughter and I was just diagnosed with Lyme last week after 3-months of muscle/joint pain and exhaustion.  The first visit to the Dr. brought an array of blood tests for everything but Lyme, all of the tests coming back negative. I, of course, went to see an herbalist (Kate Gilday, naturally) and she suggested a Lyme test which seemed to completely befuddle the nurse at the Dr.’s office when I requested it. When it came back positive, I was pretty surprised and only then remembered that I had noticed a strange circular rash on my arm in the beginning of May. I put some salve on it and it went away. I though nothing of it at the time as it was not a bulls-eye.