We have to talk about LYME’s disease which is written LYME… We really have to talk about it because the French medical profession must do its mea culpa. For a long time he taught rather poorly a disease very common in the United States or Austria, but which is beginning to affect more and more of our compatriots. Little known, it is therefore misdiagnosed, while it can be responsible for complications, in particular neurological.
The rate of increase seems significant: in France we have gone from a few hundred to more than 10,000 cases per year. 50,000 in Europe. The manager is a tick. A word about this “beast” that everyone thinks they know… There are 869 species all of which feed on blood, and therefore potentially vectors of disease. But only a few have medical importance, because of the human or animal diseases they cause …
In Lyme disease, it is a particular tick that injects a microbe called Borrelia burgdorferi. There is unease in the medical profession because Lyme disease is considered an emerging disease, that is to say, not mentioned by medical studies in the past.
Then there is the outbreak; it is estimated, depending on the geographical situation, that there may be up to 30% of infected ticks in France and up to 60% in Austria. While in the United States, for example, we can see signs warning walkers that they are crossing a risk area, the disease was belatedly recognized and followed in France while in Austria or Germany, the problem has since been longer considered a significant public health problem. Besides, the diagnosis is really not easy.
We have plenty of explanations for this extremely rapid development; The multiplication of roads which favors a very infected little mouse. Climate change, of course. And soil drainage. The regression of predators such as lizards and young frogs. In addition to the silence of the medical profession, there is a very trendy ecological dossier; with accuracy besides …
We must fear this disease, in France, rather in the north of our country, because it is very rich in ticks. The female is always looking for a good meal, usually an animal and rather small mammals. But it can also be a man she will pump blood to for three to five days. When the feast is over, she pulls away.
We cannot prevent it because most of the time we do not notice it.
In addition, while it is feeding it is almost impossible to eliminate. However, it is not this meal that is responsible for the disease, but rather a microbe that the tick will inoculate in our blood while it is feeding. This microscopic bacteria enters through saliva and will attack our body if left untreated.
There is an incubation time but unfortunately it is very variable. It ranges from two days to a month. This does not always allow the symptoms to be linked to a rural escape! The symptoms are also very variable. They range from simple itching at the bite point to breakouts all over the body.
But what medicine fears above all are heart problems, pain in the joints, which show where the microbe has taken up residence, and finally, above all, neurological problems which are often in fact the first reason for consultation and which interfere with the diagnosis. Because it is not usual in our country to think of a tick bite in front of meningitis, abnormal paralysis of the limbs or the face.
Hence frequent misdiagnosis … this is indeed why in most cases of severe Lyme disease, the diagnosis has gone astray, especially since, unlike many other infections, a simple blood test does not allow certainty. It is all the more annoying that at the beginning of the disease, the antibiotics work quite well. This is also a factor of bewilderment… Moreover, there are associations of former patients which are very active because these patients are very angry – and rightly so – against medicine.
So, in the event of a tick bite, this tick must be removed as quickly as possible with fine forceps, avoiding products such as ether which will make it regurgitate, thus increasing the risk. And then see his doctor very quickly. There is a vaccine that did not protect against the European tick, which has been withdrawn from the market. We are still waiting for his successor … So the only prevention against tick bites remains essential. Repellents can be applied, to the skin or to clothing.
However, their effectiveness remains limited and in addition, they are not devoid of undesirable side effects. Their use therefore does not exempt, in any way, from respecting the usual precautions: the wearing of suitable clothing, do not forget to put a large blanket on the ground before taking a nap in the woods, where this lurks the most. unfriendly animal and do not hesitate to talk to the doctor in case of redness and bizarre itching….
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