May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month

May is Lyme Disease Awareness Month and the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation (CanLyme) has been working tirelessly to raise awareness and promote Lyme Disease research, education and treatment.

In an effort to raise awareness, AM740 has brought Lyme Disease to the forefront. As such, we urge you to listen to Dale Goldhawk’s conversation with Marlene Spies, a Lyme disease sufferer who called in from Parliament Hill at a rally to build awareness of this dreaded illness. To listen to their podcast, CLICK HERE.

Please visit AM740 for a complete listing of Lyme disease related stories.

In addition, The Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation website offers extensive literature. A snap shot of their work can be seen here:

What is Lyme Disease?

Lyme disease (often misspelled as “Lime” or “Lymes”) is an inflammatory infection that spreads to humans through tick bites.

Lyme is a borreliosis caused by borrelia bacteria, which commonly infects woodland animals like mice or deer. Ticks pick up the bacteria by biting infected animals, and then pass it on to their human hosts. The are many strains or genospecies of borrelia that cause Lyme disease (borreliosis) in humans just as there are many strains of the flu virus that cause flu symptoms in humans, with some strains more virulent than others.

3 stages of Lyme (often blurred together quite rapidly)

Stage 1: Early infection (first few days after infection)
Stage 2: Infection spreads (days to weeks following infection)
Stage 3: Chronic Lyme (days to weeks after infection if left untreated, or not properly treated, for months/years after infection)

Lyme disease is most treatable during Stage 1. As time passes, both treatment and diagnosis become more difficult. Symptoms worsen during each stage of infection, ranging from flu-like symptoms to neurological illnesses, including paralysis. With chronic Lyme disease there is not one system of the body that can be unaffected… this includes various hormone production as well.

Lyme disease is on the rise in Canada. Decrease your risk of infection by taking preventative action and learning more about Lyme.

In honour of Lyme disease Awareness month, we urge you to get educated and take action!