When someone shouts loud enough it is hoped they will be heard.
Dr Peter Mayne, a doctor in Laurieton who has a medical practice in the tick capital region of Australia, the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, certainly hopes someone will hear his cry about Lyme disease.
Lyme disease is a well known disease in Europe and North America. It is caused by a spirochete, a type of bacteria, which infects humans in the case of Lyme disease via tick bites from ticks harbouring the specific bacteria. Two other well known diseases of humans caused by infection by specific spirochetes are Leptospirosis and Syphylis.
Dr Mayne steadfastly maintains Lyme disease exists in Australia whereas the Government and its agencies do not. So why the standoff?
It is well known bites from ticks can cause problems to humans. The paralysis tick, Ixodes holocyclus can cause illnesses including paralysis, tick typhus and more commonly severe allergic reactions to the bite. But Lyme disease has generally been ruled out as not possible.
The Department of Medical Entomology unit at Westmead Hospital in Sydney states it clearly;
"Despite clinical cases being reported from the early 1980's, there has been no confirmation that the disease occurs in Australia.”
However, Dr Mayne claims he has thirty patients with the disease and wants other medical practitioners to be on the look out for it too. There has been some debate over the testing for Lyme disease and the symptoms often fall into a wide non specific category which could be assuaged with some Panadol and “ it’s probably a virus” reassurance.
Lyme disease has three stages.
Stage I may have symptoms of fever, fatigue, muscle or joint pain and possibly swollen lymph nodes. Really, what person has not suffered all of these symptoms at some stage in their life and thought nothing of it. The symptoms could present anywhere from a few days to a month after being bitten by a tick carrying the bacterium.
One of the tell tale signs of infection with Lyme disease or what perhaps in Australia is Aussie Lyme disease which will be explained further, is a redness around the bite site, with the bite being the centre, giving a bulls eye like appearance. This is called erythema migrans and is a sign of inoculation by the bacterium Borrelia, the spirochete responsible for Lyme disease. Redness around the bite associated with an allergic reaction will usually resolve so the medical experts say, within a few days and present within a few hours. The reaction caused by infection of the Borrelia bacterium may occur up to a month after being bitten or may not present at all. Erythema migrans occurs in sixty to eighty percent of cases as reported from North America.
Stage II are also non specific and can occur months after the initial tick bite.
“The lesions resemble those of secondary syphilis: carditis, chronic meningitis, mononeuritis (eg Bell's palsy) and conjunctivitis. Arthralgia and myalgia ( joint and muscle pain) are often prominent.”
Stage III symptoms can occur months or years after exposure to the bacterium. In North America the most typical feature is an erosive arthritis of the large joints, the knees in particular. However, in Europe, the manifestation is more likely to present as a skin rash called acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans. To those in the know, this is a typical symptom of Lyme disease.
The fact there are slightly different symptoms in Europe compared to North America perhaps highlights the stance taken by Australian authorities that Lyme disease does not occur in this country. Borrelia is the name of a bacterial group. There are different strains within the grouping. No specific strain of the spirochaete has yet been isolated in Australia and therefore no specific test can be used to test a patient for it. The testing is done based on the strain found in laboratories overseas. Hence the possible reason for the impasse.
From the website of the Department of Medical Entymology at Westmead;
“None of the mammal species identified as reservoir hosts in the northern hemisphere are present in Australia. There are reports of spirochetes in Australian native animals, and a local mammal could be a reservoir host for an indigenous spirochete that occasionally infects humans through a tick vector and produces a clinical syndrome similar to Lyme Disease; however, no spirochete was detected in the 12,000 ticks or animals processed. The existence of Lyme Disease in Australia will remain controversial until an organism is isolated from a local patient and fully characterised, or until a tick-borne organism can be shown to be responsible for the human infection. If it exists it shares few of the epidemiological or clinical characteristics of US or European patterns of Lyme disease.”
Trust us Aussies to reinvent the wheel! Perhaps we should call our version “Corb Lyme Disease!”
Lyme disease, as it is caused by a bacterium, can be treated with doses of specific antibiotics.
Prevention is always better than a cure.
Best methods of prevention as taken from a number of sources including the Health Department of New South Wales are;
• avoid tick infested areas,
• prevent tick bites by using repellents particularly those containing DEET or Picaridin, including spraying on the hat,
• wearing light coloured clothing so ticks can be more readily seen,
• wear long sleeved shirts, long pants tucked into socks and a wide brimmed hat.
• be careful where you throw your clothes when you get home as they may introduce ticks into the house.
• if moving through tick infested areas carefully check yourself for ticks each day especially behind the ears, on the back of the head, groin, armpits and back of the knees. The transmission of the spirochete does not usually occur within twenty four hours of the tick attaching so prompt removal makes perfect sense.
• mow grass in the backyard and keep mulch and leaf litter away from the main entrance to the house.
• trim shrubs overhanging paths and play areas.
Dr Peter Mayne can hopefully stop shouting soon about Lyme disease.
For more information about Dr Mayne and his work try;
http://www.drmayne.com/
Quoted from website:
http://www.ourpatch.com.au/australia/users/spida/blogs/2617-mayne-shouts-about-lyme-disease
Map Image from:
http://www.gideononline.com/2008/05/07/lyme-disease-revisited/
