Transcript What Makes Borrelia burgdorferi

What Makes Borrelia burgdorferi “Tick”?
http://www.wadsworth.org/databank/hirez/hechemy2.gif
Brittany Elicker and Dr. Richard Daly
Department of Biological Sciences, York College of Pennsylvania
Research Questions
What is Lyme Disease??
>Bacterial infection caused by spore-forming
spirochete (Borrelia burgdorferi)
>Transmitted by a black-legged deer tick (Ixodes
scapularis) after two or more days of attachment
What happens once infected??
>Early Stage Symptoms: fatigue, chills, fever,
headache, muscle and joint pain, swollen lymph
nodes, erythema migrans
>Early Disseminated Symptoms: numbness and
pain in arms and legs, paralysis of facial muscles,
meningitis, heart arrhythmia
>Late/Chronic Symptoms: lyme arthritis,
nervous system problems, restless sleep
How do we fix it??
>Antibiotics administered for several weeks if in
early stage
>Some specialists use long-term treatment
regardless of stage
>Several months of treatment lessens chances of
reoccurring symptoms
>Men may need to be treated differently than
women
Erythema migrans, or “Bull’s Eye Rash”
represents the first classical sign of Lyme
Disease
Do males and females infected with Borrelia
burgdorferi respond differently to antibiotic
treatment?
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The spirochete bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi
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Reoccurring Symptoms
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0
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9 10 11 12
Symptom
Methods
Stage 1: Reviewed 3000 patient charts and
found 345 Lyme patients
Categorized patients by sex, antibiotic
treatment length, and symptoms
Stage 2: 1.5 years later, re-evaluated 100
male and 100 female charts
Analyzed results by using a Pearson’s ChiSquared Test and drew conclusions
Results
Stage 1:
Administered Antiobiotics
1:Muscular 2:Joints 3:Psychological
4:Neuropsychological 5:Neurological 6:Ears 7:Vision
8:Somatic 9:Infectious 10:GU 11:GI 12:Cardiovascular
Stage 2:
Treatment Length Differences
Treatment Length
Male
Female
Less than 6 months
54
23
6 months-1 year
16
26
1 year-1.5 years
12
19
1.5 years-2 years
7
16
2 years-2.5 years
3
3
2.5years-3 years
5
5
3 years-3.5 years
1
2
3.5 years-4 years
1
5
More than 4 years
1
1
Treatment length is determined by the time it takes a
patient to become asymptomatic
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Number of Patients
Introduction
Number of Patients
Is long-term antibiotic administration
effective when treating Lyme Disease?
Lyme Disease Symptoms
Pearson’s Chi-Squared is a test of independence that assesses
whether paired observations on two variables are independent
of each other.
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A chi-square probability of .05 or less is interpreted as
justification for rejecting the null hypothesis.
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9 10 11
Antibiotic
1:Doxycycline 2:Amoxicillian 3:Ceftriaxone
4:Biaxin 5:Augmentin 6:Ketek 7:Levaquin
8:Zithromax 9:Plaquenil 10:Rifampin
11:Omnicef
Null: There is no difference between the treatment length of
males and females.
Pearson’s Chi-Squared
P=0.003
There is a significant difference between the treatment length
of males and females.
Symptom
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2
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Male
2
26
4
10
Female
14
44
10
22
P Value
0.002
0.008
0.096
0.021
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11
12
13
10
2
15
2
2
4
2
21
28
8
34
6
6
13
8
0.132
0.001
0.052
0.002
0.149
0.149
0.022
0.052
1:Muscular 2:Joints 3:Psychological
4:Neuropsychological 5:Neurological
6:Ears 7:Vision 8:Somatic 9:Infectious
10:GU 11:GI 12:Cardiovascular
There was a significant difference between
the following symptoms: muscular, joints,
neuropsychological, ears, somatic, GI
Conclusions
>Long-term antibiotic treatment is highly
successful since patients have an 89%
chance of remaining asymptomatic after
extended treatment. Extended treatment
is any antibiotic treatment given for a
consistent period of time lasting longer
than 6 weeks.
>Males and females need different
medical attention. Over half of males
can become asymptomatic in less than
six months verses a quarter of females.
Also, females have a 43% higher chance
than males of symptoms reoccurring.
Acknowledgments
Dr. Bradley Rehnberg, Dr. John Levisky