WHY LYME DISEASE IS OFTEN MISDIAGNOSED?

Why Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed?

Outline

Transmitted by ticks, Lyme disease is a growing epidemic that many people are not even aware they have. Symptoms from the disease often look similar to other ailments, resulting in misdiagnosis and delayed treatment. Only half of the reported cases of Lyme disease present with the typical bull's eye rash, making the diagnosis even more difficult.

Misdiagnosis of Lyme Disease

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection in the United States, with the East Coast reporting the highest number of cases.” Antibiotics can treat a correctly diagnosed instance of the disease, however, according to Lyme MD, 10-120% of all cases “develop chronic symptoms now identified as post-treatment Lyme syndrome.

Lyme disease is the fastest-growing infectious disease in the United States. It is a bacterial infection caused by a spirochete, normally Borrelia burgdorferi in the US. The disease is named after Old Lyme, Connecticut where it was identified in 1975. It has now been reported in 49 of 50 states in the U.S, and on every continent except Antarctica.

The first sign of the disease is usually a rash and flu-like symptoms. If diagnosed early it can be treated successfully, but delay often leads to late stage Lyme that is very difficult to treat. People have died from it, including Scott Brazil and Diane Varsi.

Lyme disease is a multi-systemic infection and can cause symptoms in multiple parts of the body. Co-infections are often present, causing severity of the disease to be greater. Further, with multiple infections in various parts of the body, the illness may be greater in length as well.

Symptoms from Lyme disease can be mild or severe. Individuals may experience fever, muscle aches, swelling, joint pain, issues with hearing, sight, respiratory, circulatory or musculoskeletal systems. Other symptoms may present in the gastrointestinal system, the liver, the neurological system or cognitive system. The infections that may arise can include so many parts of the body that initial diagnosis is a real challenge.

Post-treatment Lyme syndrome, often referred to as chronic Lyme, can create symptoms such as fatigue, joint pain and cognition issues as well as all of the common issues associated with Lyme disease. Because the symptoms vary, treatment is highly individualized. Finding the right physician, experienced with tick-borne ailments, is especially important.

During the progression of Lyme disease, the symptoms change as bacteria move out of the blood, transform, and mutate. The immune response is depressed, and the organism becomes extremely difficult to detect. In addition, the bacteria produce blebs (packages of active Borrelia enzymes) that attach to antibodies and divert T-cells (attack cells) from the bacteria themselves.

Positive results on both the ELISA test and Western Blot test are required by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) in order to report a case of Lyme disease. Because there are large numbers of antigens on bleb surfaces, antibodies bind to the blebs and become invisible to the ELISA test for Lyme disease, and ELISA test results are falsely negative forty to sixty percent of the ...