Episode 2: Lyme Disease

Ticks are harmful parasites that can transmit diseases, with Lyme disease being the most common. Ticks are vectors, organisms that transmit pathogens to other organisms. Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted through tick bites. Symptoms include a bullseye-shaped rash, fever, body aches, and fatigue. Nymph ticks are most likely to infect humans and are harder to detect. Diagnosis can be done through medical history, physical exams, and diagnostic tests. Antibiotics are used for treatment. Prevention includes wearing protective clothing, using tick repellent, and checking for ticks daily. Have you ever wondered if parasites live in your backyard? Are you scared of all these things that can make you sick when you go outside? Welcome back to Diseased Backyardigans. I'm Victoria. I'm Rob. I'm Sharif. And today we're going to be talking about ticks. Lyme disease. Lyme disease and ticks. So, we've probably all heard it basically, like, you're out in the woods, you're on a hike, everyone says check yourself for ticks, especially if you live in a warm environment. Be careful for ticks. Be careful. All that. But why? Like, why? What's the harm? Why are ticks so harmful and what is the risk? We're basically going to answer all those questions you guys probably have surrounding ticks and more. So, yeah. All right. So, when talking about ticks and Lyme disease, it's first important to understand what a vector is. This is not to be confused with the meme of the bowl cut and orange jumpsuit. However, it is important, so we're going to get into it right now. You've all probably heard of a vector before. It's not always clear, but a vector is basically any sort of factor that contains both magnitude and direction. Some people have heard it in physics. Oh, yeah. I've heard it in physics. Yeah. I do not miss that. Nope. But what does a vector mean in this case? Well, a vector is basically an organism, and in this case, the tick specifically. And that tick or organism has the ability to transmit a pathogen that causes disease to another organism. This pathogen has a specific direction in which it is transmitted. So, let's break that down a little bit more. A vector is no bueno. That is very true. So, ticks can transmit pathogens, and this can cause a variety of different diseases. However, the most common types of disease from ticks is Lyme disease. Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in all of North America. Fun fact. And it is transmitted by ticks of the family, and I might butcher this as well, but Ayak, Aizo, did they? There you go. Right? There's over 700 species. And, you know, Rob, I don't mean to cut you off, but I actually have a question. Can you just briefly explain what a host and what a parasite is, just for the listeners? Yes. So, a great analogy I always like to use is the host is the one that provides the chips and the salsa at the party, and the parasite is the guest that just won't leave. That's a good one for you. But to get more scientific with it, yes. So, the relationship between a host and parasite is always going to be the sharing of nutrients. However, the host is the one that works and provides the nutrients, and then the parasite is the one that latches on and then feeds off of those nutrients. Awesome. I love that analogy. That was a good one. So, to get into Lyme disease, can you guys explain what Lyme disease is and how does one actually get it? Yes. So, Lyme disease, it's a disease caused by the bacteria, hopefully I'm not going to butcher this, but Borrelia burgdorferi. Yes, Borrelia burgdorferi. This is basically the pathogen that is transmitted from ticks to humans through the bite of ticks. So, let's say you do get bit by a tick. Can you guys explain some of the symptoms to look out for? Yes. So, most times, not all the time, but the majority of the time, the first symptom that you're going to get is like a rash. It's like a bullseye-shaped rash. The scientific name is erythema migrans. Yes, so this is very common. One fact that I did read is that it is much harder to detect this. Because it is much harder to detect this rash in black patients, actually it says that one in three black patients who have been diagnosed have already had complications. With Lyme disease, it does affect black patients much more because it's the first symptom that most people see. Like if you have black skin, it's going to be much harder to detect it in the beginning. And if it hasn't been diagnosed in the early stages, it could lead to further complications in the future. Some other symptoms coming after that, fever, body aches, fatigue, poor appetite, swollen glands, things like that. While it is usually not fatal, if it is left untreated for a long time, it could contribute to other problems. But the disease itself basically won't kill you. Another thing that's important to know about ticks is that there are four life stages of ticks, the first being the egg, the second being the larvae in which the eggs hatch into the larvae and search for the blood, and the third stage is called the nymph stage. This stage is the most likely stage in which they infect humans. And the last stage is the adult stage. So, Sharif, you said that the nymphs especially are likely to infect humans. Can you touch base a little bit more about that as to why they are most likely to infect humans? Yes. So nymphs, basically, they differ in a lot of ways from the other life stages of ticks. First of all, they're much smaller than adult ticks. That basically makes them way less detectable. For if someone's going on a hike or going in the woods, it's harder to see, it's harder to feel. And another thing is that they are much more active in the warm weather. And as we know, people who like going outside to go on hikes, they usually like to go in the warm weather. So it's very common in the June, July months that people could get these ticks. Another thing is that it actually takes anywhere from 18 to 48 hours for a disease to actually be transmitted from the tick to the human. So it is way more common for us to notice if a big adult tick latches onto us rather than if a small tick does. So it kind of allows us to take action more quickly if we see it, if it's a big tick, an adult tick. So that's why the nymph stage is, that's the main stage that infects humans. Yeah, another thing to also know is that they aren't born with this pathogen. They contract it from living and from feeding on other animals. And they also have one blood meal per life stage. So if a nymph is already feeding on a human, that same nymph would not be able to transmit this pathogen again after that. So yeah, Rob, do you want to talk about how you get diagnosed with it and all the information that has to do with the diagnosis? Yeah, I would love to. I think especially with a disease like this, being able to identify when you have it is probably one of the more important things. So let's dive in. So diagnosis for Lyme disease, outside of noticing some of the symptoms like you previously discussed about the red rings, the rashes, the fever, right? Outside of knowing that, diagnosis for Lyme disease can be done through medical history, physical exams, and diagnostic tests. So we do have a lot of technology today that can help us detect it. If an expanding red rash is present, then that's almost certain it's Lyme disease, especially if you find the tick still in the bite. I think another important thing that we haven't discussed yet is the removal of the tick. And I think it should really be noted that when you're pulling out a tick, there is a correct and incorrect way to do so. What most people don't know about ticks is that when you leave the head of the tick in on accident when pulling it out improperly, that tick can continue to transmit the pathogen even after being, quote-unquote, removed. So to combat this, we have antibiotics, and those should be started right away as soon as you notice a tick bite or any early signs of Lyme disease. You should not wait to see the results in the blood from these antibiotic tests because Lyme disease is negative about 50% to 65% of the time. This is because it takes two to three weeks for antibodies to develop, and so detection oftentimes can take a little while, which is also not good because, as we previously discussed, a tick can transmit a pathogen as quick as 18 hours, so that's not good. After a few weeks, when antibodies form, blood tests are a lot more reliable and a lot more useful. The success rate bumps up dramatically to about 92%, I believe. Common antibiotics for this treatment include amoxicillin, doxycyllin, and serozyme. There you go. Yeah. Ticks, I do not like ticks. Something actually funny that I found when researching this, you know why it's called Lyme disease? No, I don't. Because the first time it was found was in Lyme, Connecticut. Wow. I don't even know that. There you go. I didn't even know there was a Lyme, Connecticut. The people in Lyme, Connecticut are probably really mad that Lyme was even called after that. That's hilarious. You must think that that's what your town is known for then. You know, while you guys are talking about this, I was doing a little bit more research, and I actually found a source from the Global Lyme Disease Alliance. And, you know, for our listeners, after, if you guys want to look at the sources underneath this video podcast, it actually gives a lot of useful information about ways, you know, where ticks are commonly found and ways to prevent ticks. And so a couple of places where ticks are commonly found are, you know, wood piles, stone walls, tall grass or bushy areas. And so some ways to prevent ticks this season, especially, you know, if you live in Pennsylvania and you're going out hiking, you know, avoid high traffic areas known that, you know, ticks can be, you know, carry Lyme disease. Like I said, the tall grass, bushy areas, you know, wear clothing to protect from ticks and Lyme disease, like long sleeves, pants, socks, you know, apply EPA-approved tick repellent. You know, examine yourself for ticks daily. And like I said, there's a lot more useful information in the sources below that talk about ticks and Lyme disease. So make sure to always stay careful, especially when you're hiking and going out this season. Yeah, I think you hit the nail on the head with that one. I also think that it should also be noted that when you go hiking, especially with a pet too, because ticks do often tend or attach to pets, that you should check your pet just as much as you check yourself for ticks. That's the first time I ever heard of the term tick. Check it on your dog. Check it on your dog. Yep. Yeah, it's interesting too because ticks also affect dogs, maybe not worse, but just as bad. You don't want to see your dog. Yeah, dogs, they have different types of symptoms relative to humans when it comes to Lyme disease. However, Lyme disease in dogs does tend to cause aggression, overeating, depression, and joint swelling. So make sure you check your pets. Make sure you check your pets and yourself. And yourself. Yeah. Well, I mean, that was really great information, guys. Thank you guys so much for talking about Lyme disease. And I think it's really important that the people, especially in the Lehigh Valley and all around, to make sure to check yourselves for ticks, check your pets, especially coming into this summer. And yeah, do you guys have any final thoughts? I don't know. I don't think so. I think we covered everything, but yeah. Stay safe out there. Stay safe, yep. All right. Thanks, guys.