Lyme Disease
Lyme disease is a complex and
rarely understood disease that is systemic in nature. It can
present itself with a myriad of symptoms (sometimes well over
100) that can easily lead to misdiagnosis by the untrained
professional. We've tried to break down the information about
this disease to make it easier to understand its
complexities.
What is Lyme?
Lyme Disease is an infectious
disease carried by various birds, rodents, deer and ticks.
There is indication that mosquitos and other biting insects
may also be vectors to this disease. It is passed among the
animals and insects in this group when a tick latches onto an
infected host, usually a Deer Mouse.
The spirochetes
(Borrelia burgdorferi)
in the infected blood of the mouse enter the blood of
the tick and begin another life cycle, or continue their
lifecycle in the stomach of the tick. The tick then bites or
latches onto a different host and infects the new host
with the Lyme disease.
The disease was first
discovered in 1970 with the characteristic bulls-eye rash
appearing on men from the Groton, Conneticut submarine base,
and the findings of studies reported by Navy doctors in
1974.
The disease then affected a
group of families in the town of Old Lyme, Conneticut, where
awareness of the disease became more prominent,
and it received its current common name of Lyme
Disease.
Symptoms of Lyme Disease
Although the diagnosis of
Lyme is a CLINICAL diagnosis, some of the common symptoms of
the disease seen in a clinical setting are a bulls-eye shaped
rash around a bite site, followed by flu-like symtoms, fever
and general malaise. Please view
the full list of symptoms available
here.
Further in-depth notes
regarding epidemiology, comparisons and diagnosis on Lyme
Disease can be read in our menu to the left of your
screen.
Lyme Disease in Canada
Although recent media attention has brought more
awareness to Lyme disease in Canada, there exists a huge body
of professionals who are ignorant to the current statistics
and facts surrounding this disease. In light of this, there is
a misconception that Lyme simply "isn't as bad as people
think", or that it simply "doesn't exist" at all.
Dr. Murakami has alone, treated and consulted with over
3000 people that have presented positive serology for Lyme and
co-infections in Canada. These people come from every province
in our Nation and have recorded geographical bites obtained
from every province as well. For anyone to claim that Lyme
does not exist in ANY province is a blatant denial of the
problem and a red-flag of how poorly educated our physicians
truly are.
It is Dr. Murakami's goal to bring this problem to
light and to help shed away the layers of mistrust, and
misguided information to truly expose the truth and weak areas
that need to be addressed by our current health care
system behind this disease.