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November 22, 2009
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Lyme Disease

Medical Author: William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR
Medical Editor: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

Lyme Disease Treatment

Doxycycline for the Treatment of
Lyme Disease

Doxycycline is a synthetic broad-spectrum antibiotic derived from tetracycline. It is used to treat many different types of infections, including respiratory tract infections due to Hemophilus influenzae, Streptococcus pneumoniae, or Mycoplasma pneumoniae. It also is used for the treatment of nongonococcal urethritis (due to Ureaplasma), Rocky mountain spotted fever, typhus, chancroid, cholera, brucellosis, anthrax, syphilis, and acne. It is important to be aware of drug interactions, effects on pregnancy and nursing mothers, as well as common side effects on the user.

Vibramycin, Oracea, Adoxa, Atridox and other medications to treat Lyme Disease.

What is Lyme disease? What causes Lyme disease?

Lyme disease is a bacterial illness caused by a bacterium called a "spirochete." In the United States, the actual name of the bacterium is Borrelia burgdorferi. In Europe, another bacterium, Borrelia afzelii, also causes Lyme disease. Certain ticks found on deer harbor the bacterium in their stomachs. Lyme disease is spread by these ticks when they bite the skin, which permits the bacterium to infect the body. Lyme disease is not contagious from an affected person to someone else. Lyme disease can cause abnormalities in the skin, joints, heart, and nervous system.

What is the history of Lyme disease?

Interestingly, the disease only became apparent in 1975 when mothers of a group of children who lived near each other in Lyme, Connecticut, made researchers aware that their children had all been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This unusual grouping of illness that appeared "rheumatoid" eventually led researchers to the identification of the bacterial cause of the children's condition, what was then called "Lyme disease" in 1982.

Ticks are carriers of the Lyme bacterium in their stomachs. The ticks then are vectors that can transmit the bacterium to humans with a tick bite. The number of cases of the disease in an area depends on the number of ticks present and how often the ticks are infected with the bacteria. In certain areas of New York, where Lyme disease is common, over half of the ticks are infected. Lyme disease has been reported most often in the northeastern United States, but it has been reported in all 50 states, as well as China, Europe, Japan, Australia, and parts of the former Soviet Union. In the United States, it is primarily contracted in the Northeast from the state of Maine to Maryland, in the Midwest in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and in the West in Oregon and Northern California.

Picture of a deer tick
Picture of a deer tick


Next: What are symptoms and signs of Lyme disease? »

Lyme Disease - How Was Diagnosis Established

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How was the diagnosis of your lyme disease established?

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Suggested Reading by Our Doctors
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  • doxycycline, Vibramycin, Oracea, Adoxa, Atridox and Others - Learn more about Doxycycline, including a description, generic and brand names, drug class and mechanism, preparations, storage, reasons for prescription, dosing, drug interactions, effect on pregnancy and nursing mothers, and common side effects.
  • Sedimentation Rate - Learn more about sedimentation rate, including a description of the test, how it is performed, and normal rate measurements.
  • Rheumatoid Arthritis - Learn more about rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that causes chronic joint inflammation, which has symptoms that include stiffness, fever, muscle and joint aches, loss of appetite, and fatigue. Treatment of rheumatoid arthritis incorporates the use of first-line drugs (aspirin and corticosteroids for pain and inflammation) and second-line drugs (methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine to prevent joint destruction and promote remission).

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Lyme Disease

What is optic neuritis?

Optic neuritis is inflammation of the optic nerve, the structure that connects the eye to the brain. The optic nerve consists of nerve tracts (axons) that originate in the retina of each eye. The optic nerve carries visual information from the retina to the nerve cells in the brain stem, where the information is relayed to the area of the brain that recognizes vision (the occipital cortex).

Optic neuritis can occur in children or adults and may involve either one or both optic nerves. Optic neuritis typically affects young adults ranging from 18-45 years of age, with a mean age of 30-35 years. There is a strong female predominance. The annual incidence is approximately 5/100,000, with a total prevalence estimated to be 115/100,000.

What causes optic neuritis?

The precise cause of optic neuritis is unknown, but it is thought to be a type of autoimmune disorder. The immune system is general...

Read the Optic Neuritis article »










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