Lime Disease Essay example -- essays research papers

Lime DiseaseLyme unsoundness is caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, which is a retard-borne spirochete. The dangers of this disease became more publicise in 1977, where a geographicgrouping of children in Lyme, Conneticut were thought to have juvenile rheumatoidarthritis1. Soon after, it was discovered that lyme disease was an illness that mainlyaffects the skin, nauseating system, heart, and joints. The borrelia species is part of theeubacterial phylum of spirochetes. Containted within a protoplasmic cylinder is a cellmembrane, followed by wavy flagella, and then an outer membrane. The genesencoded within the outer membrane are placed on plasmids which allows the organismto make antigenic changes in these proteins. When a borrelia cell attaches to its host,the whole outer membrane moves to one end of the cylinder, which is called capping topatching1. B. burgdorferi do not populate in water, soil, or plants. Borrelia grow slowlycompared to most bacteria. They elongate for 12 to 24 hours before dividing into twocells. B. burgdorferi is approximately 20 to um long and 0.2 to 0.25 um wide, with 7 to11 flagella. More than 30 proteins are contained within B. burgdorferi1. This bacteriauses white-footed mice, mosquitoes, and deer as their hosts. This disease does not discriminate between sex and age male and female, aswell as old and young are affected. It is widely distributed around the world in thetemperate zones3. A person is infected when a black-legged tick imbeds itself intothem while out in the open in wodded and forested areas. This usually occurs betweenthe months of May and July. Tick abundance is associated with humidity, temperature,landscape slope, forested areas with sandy soils, and the terminus of residentialdevelopment?.Generally, lyme disease occurs in stages, which are not always clear-cut theywhitethorn overlap. The first stage involves the injection of B. burgdorferi by the tick. Shortly thenceforth (3 days to 4 months), it spreads throughou t the skin, causing erythemamigrans (EM), which is basically a skin lesion. This lesion can vary in size, body site,color, duration, intensity, and recurrence. Erythema migrans is a marker of thedisease, yet may also be absent altogether. EM resolves spontaneously in a fewweeks or months4. Also like to occu... ...itive skills inchildren who have been treated for lyme disease using antibiotics. It seems likely thatthe lyme disease spirochete can cause an adverse fetal outcome. However, thequestion is, how likely and just what are the outcomes, which is what I would like to adjudicatefor. My proposed study will be an experimental study in which lyme disease treatedpediatric populations will be examined to identify possible cognitive or psychologicabnormalities resulting from lyme disease. The focus will be on children because they have a high incidence of lyme disease? and are less likely to havecognitive declination due to confounding factors, such as aging.Children between the ag es of 5 and 15 who have been treated with lyme diseasewill be studied. These children will be promiscuously chosen for endemic areas such asDelaware. Serologic testing (ie. enzyme-linked immunosorbent assa ELISA) will beused to determine the presence of B. burgdorferi antibodies. The following hypotheses will be triedHo No cognitive differences between lyme disease children and control groupHA Cognitive differences between lyme disease children and control group arepresent.