Tick-Borne Diseases in California - It's Not Just Lyme and It's Not Just Deer Ticks!

Lyme Disease is currently the fastest growing bacterial infectious disease in the United States of America. Lyme is caused by a spiral shaped bacteria (spirochete) called Borrelia burgdorferi.  On the East Coast the primary vector for Lyme Disease is the Ioxdes Scapularis Tick with the primary reservoir  being the White Footed Mouse. On the West Coast the primary vector is the Ioxdes Pacificus Tick with the Gray Squirrel being the primary reservoir. (See Previous Post On North American Ticks)

Emerging Science In Lyme Disease Testing:

There is some promising news on the horizon for Lyme Disease. Several new tests have been developed within the past year that I will highlight here. (P.S. I will be adding to this page as new information emerges, so please check back)

Lyme is caused by an infection of the Borrelia spirochete (phylum Spirochetaete) and is the most common vector-borne infectious disease in the United States. With over 300,000 Americans being infected annually, Lyme presents a serious public health concern. Unfortunately, the current testing for Lyme does not account for the wide genetic variability or the multiple variant forms of Borrelia. In addition, the level of spirochetes in the blood can run so low that they may be undetectable at the time of testing.

The Long Road to a Lyme Diagnosis

In August 2012, my daughter became critically ill. What we thought was the flu, progressed to a point where she could no longer function physically or mentally.

At the time of her illness my daughter was a straight "A" honors student and playing Water Polo. She was doing 360 sit-ups, 20 pushups and swimming for 2-4 hours every day. One day she came home from school with a flu like symptoms and a fever. After a week of her progressively getting worse, I started taking her to the doctor on a Bi-weekly basis. By the second month of her illness she could barely walk. She'd gone from Geometry/Algebra to not being able to do simple addition/subtraction. She had a laundry list of symptoms: Constant migraine type headache, extreme insomnia, extreme light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, neck/back pain, muscle/joint pain, jaw pain, extreme foot pain, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, abdominal pain, low blood pressure, lightheadedness, as well as a recurring low grade fever that was accompanied by a diffuse rash. Later she developed reddish/purple striated marks on her back, her legs/feet would remain bluish & cold most of the time and her blood pressure would hover in the 70:50 range making her completely intolerant of any activity.  Her memory which was once sharp as a tac had disappeared. She wasn't able to walk more than ten feet without starting to black-out. School had become virtually impossible.