Pathogen Borrelia Burgdorferi-Lyme Disease, Measures, Initiatives and Outbreaks

Lyme Disease – Borrelia burgdorferi
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Lyme Disease – Borrelia burgdorferi
Description of Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme disease)
Borrelia burgdorferi belongs to spirochete bacteria phylum. The pathogen causes Lyme disease, a common vector-borne illness in the United States of America (USA). Borrelia burgdorferi is transmitted through tick bites. Humans get Lyme disease when infected ticks from genus Ixodes bite them for at least 24 hours (Shapiro, 2014). Deer ticks or black-legged ticks carry the bacteria and transmit it to people through bites. Southern New York and Connecticut are highly endemic areas with a yearly incidence rate of about 0.5 cases in every 1,000 people. Young people between the ages of 5 and 10 years are more likely to contract Lyme disease than adults (Shapiro, 2014). In particular, ixodid ticks usually have a three-stage life cycle that takes place within two years. The tick is infected during any phase of its life cycle when it feeds on a host, such as white-footed mice or chipmunks, infected with Borrelia burgdorferi (Shapiro, 2014). Nymphal ticks have a high likelihood to transmit the disease since they are small and cannot be seen easily. They bite individuals who visit tick-infested areas, and before a person realizes the tick bite, it would have transmitted the bacteria. Adult female ticks attach themselves to large creatures, such as deer, which is why they are known as deer ticks.
Type of Organism
Borrelia burgdorferi has a smaller genome than other types of bacteria. Indeed, it has genes with a few encoding biosynthetic and metabolic functions that help the bacteria maintain basal cellular function. The microorganism is not able to synthesize fatty acids, nucleotides, and amino acids (Mestrovic, 2019). Individuals who visit or live in tick-infested areas, such as wooded or grassy fields, are likely to get Lyme disease. Borrelia burgdorferi has linear plasmids with redundant genes, non-coding sequences, and non-functional pseudogenes (Petnicki-Ocwieja & Kern, 2014). Early symptoms of Lyme disease are a red bump resembling a mosquito bite, skin rash, fatigue, fever, neck stiffness, chills, headache, swollen lymph nodes, and body aches. Other signs that an infected person might depict include joint pain, membrane inflammation, erythema migrans, irregular heartbeat, and severe fatigue (Mestrovic, 2019). As such, individuals visiting areas infested with deer ticks are advised to take proper precautions to avoid black-legged tick bites that would cause Lyme disease.
Type of Antimicrobial Provided to Patients to Get Rid of the Borrelia burgdorferi
When discovered early, Lyme disease is treatable with oral antibiotics, such as amoxicillin and doxycycline. Patients who adhere to the physician’s antibiotic prescriptions are successfully treated between 3 and 4 weeks (NIH, 2018). Specifically, the most significant thing is to diagnose Lyme disease in its early stages and get rid of Borrelia burgdorferi. Adult patients can be administered 100 mg of doxycycline two times a day for 10 to 14 days. Additionally, they can use 500 mg of cefuroxime or amoxicillin three times a day for two weeks (CDC, 2021). When it comes to children, they are administered 4.4 mg of doxycycline per kilogram per day for 10 to 14 days. Besides, 50 mg per kg per day of amoxicillin divided into three doses can be used within 14 days. Two doses of 30 mg per kg per day of cefuroxime can be used in two weeks (CDC, 2021). People with severe cases of Lyme disease can use intravenous treatment using antibiotics, such as ceftriaxone. However, regardless of the antibiotics used, patients should be monitored closely.  
Routes of Infection Used by Borrelia burgdorferi to Move from Host to Host
Borrelia burgdorferi has about a 1-Mb linear chromosome and around seventeen linear and circular plasmids that are highly stable and comprise genes essential for survival (Kurokawa et al., 2020). The microorganism regulates its gene-environment to help the spirochete adapt to distinctive host environments. Some of the external factors that control gene expression in the bacteria are temperature, levels of carbon dioxide, pH levels, and other biotic factors. Borrelia burgdorferi undergoes some changes when moving from one host to another. For example, when an infected tick bites an individual, it ought to stay for at least 24 hours for the bacteria to be transmitted to the new host. At the site where it bites, the spirochete evades the defenses of the immune system so that it can extravasate and get accustomed to the surrounding tissues (Kurokawa et al., 2020). Borrelia burgdorferi encodes proteins to enhance these functions. The pathogen significantly relies on the tick salivary proteins that are injected into the new host when an infected tick bites. The tick saliva protects the bacteria from being eliminated by the mammalian host immune system. As a result, the interaction of the tick and&...