Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Illnesses
Excerpted from AssociatedContent.com ( Posted: 06/05/2011 )
Lyme disease is more prevalent than we believe, affecting some 35,000 people a year. Since lyme disease has similar symptoms as parkinsons, multiple schlerosis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia it is often misdiagnosed, so in reality the numbers are much higher. Some experts believe that as many as 200,000 people are infected annually.
Lyme disease attacks more people than AIDS or west nile virus combined, and it accounts for more than 95 percent of vector borne illnesses. This virus is an epidemic, as it spreads all over and is everywhere. The greatest amount of infection in the United States occurs in the Northeast and North-central states; Minnesota and Wisconsin being hit the hardest.
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As if lyme disease alone isn’t enough on the plate of humanity, it has been discovered that other tick borne diseases, such as ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, are rearing their ugly head, and they are even more dangerous than lyme disease! These tick borne illnesses are so serious that if you have a compromised immune system, the rate of death is as high as 20 percent.
There are so many symptoms of lyme disease and her cousins, that it is often very difficult to diagnose the disease. Some of the symptoms are rashes at the site of bite, fever, joint pain, muscle pain, headache, memory loss, Alzheimer’s-like symptoms, stroke symptoms, insomnia, gait disturbance, eye problems, ringing in ears, depression, nightmares, hair loss, upset stomach, high or low blood pressure, sexual dysfunction and an attack on general well-being.
For a list of more symptoms-Source:
Speaking of ehrlichiosis and babesiosis, Dr. Stuart Feinstein, a specialist in the treatment of tick-borne diseases said, “We’ve seen a lot more hospitalizations, and people have been a lot sicker.” Dr. Feinstein claims he has seen many more patients this year than in past, and it seems the diseases are progressing rapidly and becoming more severe.
For the complete article: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8091567/lyme_disease_and_other_tickborne_illnesses.html?cat=70
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