Hey everyone Julia here for DNews

Lyme disease is weird, mysterious, and can be pretty stubborn. Every tick season 300,000

Americans will become infected according to The U.S. Centers for Disease Control. The

symptoms are similar to a flu like fever and aches, so a lot of cases go untreated. Only

30,000 cases get reported each year. But other symptoms can get worse. much worse. Like chronic

debilitating joint pain.

You can get lyme disease from the bite of a blacklegged (deer) tick. But not all ticks

carry the disease. According to Paul Mead, chief of epidemiology and surveillance activity

at the CDC, one out of every four or five ticks might be infected in areas where the

disease is very common.

There are a lot of misconceptions about lyme disease. Some people think that everyone who

gets the disease will get a telltale bulls eye redness around the tick bite. But that’s

not always the case. The CDC says around 70 percent of people get the mark, but it can

vary by region. But lyme disease doesn’t vary too much, it’s been reported in every

state except Hawaii.

The disease is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi. This bacteria is old. Like really

old. Researchers from Ohio State University found ticks infected with it trapped in amber

in the Dominican Republic. In a study published in the journal Historical Biology, they found

they could be around 15 to 20 MILLION YEARS OLD. Basically as long as people have been

getting bit by ticks, there’s been lyme disease.

You know that famous Ice mummy otzi? Yeah, he might’ve had Lyme disease. In analyzing

his genome, scientists found fragments of the bacteria’s genetic material. At 5,300

years old, that could be the oldest case ever found of the disease.

Otzi, like others, would have suffered some of the nasty symptoms like pain. Most of the

symptoms are caused by the way the disease targets the immune system. It triggers inflammation

and can attack the peripheral nervous system, causing pain spreading from the back to the

arms and legs, and hands and feet.

One study published in the journal The American Journal of Pathology found that this inflammation

can also affect the central nervous system, causing headaches and fatigue and even scary

symptoms like memory loss, learning disability, or depression.

Lyme disease can be cured if it’s caught early, but it’s often misdiagnosed. So sometimes

these symptoms persist becoming chronic and debilitating in about 10-20 percent of patients.

It’s estimated that about a million Americans live with what’s called post-treatment Lyme

disease (PTLD).

A recent study published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy found why it’s just

so hard to get rid of. Even though lyme disease is caused by bacteria, antibiotics often don’t

work to treat the pathogen. So the bacteria forms what’s called dormant persister cells

which evade antibiotics. And just like their name suggests these guys aren’t killed by

antibiotics. They lie dormant. Then might wake up after a round of treatment and wreck

havoc on the nervous system.

But the researchers also identified two potential treatments for PTLD. One is a treatment for

cancer called Mitomycin C, which wiped out all cultures of the bacteria. But the treatment

is pretty toxic, so probably not the best way to go.

Another way involves multiple doses of antibiotics. In what’s called “pulse dosing” the

researchers repeatedly dosed the bacteria. In the first round, some cells died, but those

dormant persister cells didn’t. They woke up and tried to establish a population. But

before they did, researchers hit them with another round of antibiotics. After four rounds

of treatment, the bacteria were all eradicated. But this was only in a testtube, so more research

is needed.

IF you’re worried about lyme disease and tick bites, the CDC recommends knowing where

deer ticks are commonly found, wearing protective clothing and insect repellent if you go into

those areas and to do daily checks of your body if you’ve been outside, even in your

own backyard. If a tick is attached to your body for less than 24 hours, your chances

of getting the disease is small.

Speaking of tiny things that could potentially harm you, have you ever wondered what a virus

is? I’ve got the short & sweet answer for you in this episode of my new show, Test Tube

101. Check it out and subscribe.