Lyme Disease Information

Lyme Disease information from http://utahlyme.org/

Common misdiagnoses for Lyme disease include...


•Fibromyalgia
•Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
•MS
•Lupus
•Parkinson's disease
•Alzheimer's disease
•Psychiatric illness
•ADD
•Autism


Lyme Disease in Utah?
Yes, you can catch Lyme Disease in Utah. Many believe the disease is rare. I believe it is only the diagnosis that is rare.
The common belief that you can't get Lyme disease in Utah is perpetuated by insufficient surveillance, inadequate reporting, poor diagnostic tools, an uninformed public, and an understandably reluctant and fearful medical community which lacks the knowledge necessary to diagnose and treat Lyme disease.
Given the lack of sufficient knowledge and a host of other problems surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, it is obvious there is an urgent need for more research, better surveillance and reporting systems, raised public awareness, and increased physician education.
In the United States...
Lyme disease is the fastest growing infectious disease in the United States. The disease is caused by a spirochete that is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected tick.

According to the Center for Disease Control, only an estimated one in ten cases of diagnosed Lyme disease meet their surveillance criteria, leaving ninety percent of cases unreported. Using the CDC data, this means that nearly 250,000 new cases of Lyme disease were diagnosed in this country in the past year and that the rate of infection is increasing.
Lyme disease or a Lyme-like illness has been reported in every state in this country.

In Utah...
Many people are unaware that Utah is an endemic area as determined by the CDC. In 1996, the CDC defined areas of predicted Lyme disease transmission by high, moderate, low, and minimal/no risk. At that time the risk was indicated to be low but present in this state. The risk determination was made by catching multiple ticks in each life cycle that were infected with the Lyme disease spirochete. It is hard to imagine that the degree of risk has not increased since then.
In Utah, the Ixodes pacificus tick carries the disease -– a tiny tick that ranges in size from a poppy seed to a sesame seed. The ticks feed on and are transported by field mice, deer, and other warm-blooded animals.

The myth...
As long as the disease is not diagnosed, the myth will persist: If you can't get Lyme disease in Utah, you must not have Lyme disease.
This thinking results in only rare consideration of Lyme disease as a diagnosis. When undiagnosed and unreported, both the public and physicians alike are allowed to continue to believe that you can't get Lyme disease in Utah; government officials can continue to believe that there is no need to educate the public about the risks of the disease and prevention measures or to educate the medical community about the proper diagnosis and treatment of the disease.

The nightmare...
If treated early and aggressively, Lyme disease is curable. When left untreated or inadequately treated, Lyme disease can progress into a devastating and disabling multi-systemic illness often marked by severe neurological problems and debilitating pain. In fact, according to the National Institutes of Health, “patients with persistent Lyme disease suffer physical disability equivalent to that of multiple sclerosis, severe pain equivalent to post-operative pain, and profound fatigue similar to congestive heart failure”. It is estimated that 10-15 percent of Lyme disease cases will develop into persistent late-stage neurological disease.
Lyme disease is also at the center of a political battlefield. Prominent physicians who treat the disease aggressively have been targets of attack by insurance companies and state medical boards. These are the same physicians who are working with Lyme patients every day and making well those who had previously been without hope.

It's time for change...
For me there is no question whether people can become infected with Lyme disease from ticks in Utah. I know what is true because I have lived it. It is my hope that I can effect some change by raising awareness and disseminating information about Lyme disease and its diagnosis and treatment. It is my hope that the information here can make a difference to someone else so that they do not have to learn the truth by living it.

Utah Lyme Disease Support Group
The Utah Lyme Disease Support Group meetings are held on the first Saturdary of each month from 3-5 p.m. at the Alta View Hospital, Classroom A. Some meetings have guest speakers. The Alta View Hospital is located at 9660 S 1300 E, Sandy, UT 84094. We hope to see you there!