Word: lyme
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HEALTH: Preventing Lyme disease; does diet soda keep you trim...
Summer is prime time for Lyme disease, and this summer could be a bad one. The number of cases doubled from 2001 to 2002, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mostly as a result of continued human infiltration of Mother Nature's turf. Carried by a parasitic tick on mice, deer and household pets, the disease has spread to 43 of the 48 contiguous states--although 12 states in the Northeast and northern Midwest still account for 95% of reported cases. (Reported cases, however, may represent only a tenth of the total...
...Lyme disease is nothing to fool around with, especially for those in the groups at highest risk--children ages 5 to 14 and adults ages 50 to 59. Caused by a spirochete bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted via the bite of the so-called deer tick, the disease is usually accompanied by an expanding bull's-eye rash (at least 2 in. in diameter) at the site of the bite. Secondary symptoms may include muscle pain, headache and swollen glands. Left untreated, the bacterium can lodge in various body tissues (where blood tests may not detect...
...good news, according to Erin Staples of the CDC, is that Lyme disease is almost always readily cured if diagnosed early and treated with a short course of antibiotics (doxycycline, amoxicillin and Ceftin are most often recommended). Infection doesn't usually occur until the tick has been attached to your body for 36 hours. So if you are going into the woods this summer, wear shoes, socks and light-colored clothing; spray your clothes and skin with an insect repellent that contains DEET; stay on cleared, well-traveled trails; avoid moist, shady areas covered with leaf litter or low-lying...
...story on arthritis [HEALTH, Dec. 9]. I was a very active child, always participating in sports throughout school. In my late teens, I discovered the runner's high and never looked back--until one morning I woke up and couldn't get out of bed. I thought it was Lyme disease, but instead I got the news that it was rheumatoid arthritis. I was 26, and I felt as if my life had been taken away from me--I would never run again. But I found a great doctor who prescribed a life-changing drug and yoga. I still...