Lyme disease spreads in body via blood
NEW YORK, May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers Monday reported results of a five-year study which shows the bacteria that cause Lyme disease often spread to distant sites in the body by way of the blood.
These findings answer some questions as to why untreated patients often develop confounding complications in areas remote from the tick bite location, researchers from the New York Medical College reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The researchers looked for the presence of the Lyme disease bacteria (Borrelia) in the blood of 213 untreated adults who developed erythema migrans, the bull's eye rash that often occurs on the skin around a tick bite site. Blood stream invasion was seen in patients who had the more severe symptoms and who were more likely to have multiple erythema migrans rashes.
Younger patients and those who had previously contracted Lyme disease appeared to possibly have some protection from the disorder (requires more study).
Antibiotics, such as doxycycline, when initiated early after infection for a minimum of six weeks often can prevent long-term complications, such as joint pain, that can arise in untreated individuals.
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