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| Possible resurgence of Lyme disease in Alberta |
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 Lyme disease (LD) is an infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, a type of bacterium called a spirochete (pronounced spy-ro-keet) that is carried by deer ticks. An infected tick can transmit the spirochete to the humans and animals it bites. Untreated, the bacterium travels through the bloodstream, establishes itself in various body tissues, and can cause a number of symptoms, some of which are severe. Two summers ago, Riley Lindberg was a “healthy, vibrant, honour student in Grade 11,” according to his mother, Christine. “Then he just completely flattened.” A sudden illness started like an extreme flu and quickly escalated. Riley, now 17, has missed two years of school and remains bedridden. To Alberta doctors, his mother says, Riley’s affliction remains a mystery. But Christine believes she knows the answer: Lyme disease. Alberta researchers have found six ticks infected with the Borrellia burgdorferi bacteria — the pathogen responsible for Lyme disease. The ticks were on house pets. Long considered an unheard of disease in the province, Dr. Andre Corriveau, Alberta’s chief medical officer, says changing climate patterns may be helping the spread of infected ticks to dryer prairie climates. “It’s a disease that’s also related to environmental changes. Ticks that can carry Lyme disease have established themselves in areas where they didn’t used to be,” Corriveau said. Previously confined to rural areas of Ontario and New England, the ticks are now popping up in B.C. and Alberta. The government in Alberta has recorded 20 cases of Lyme disease in humans between 1989 and 2000, mostly picked up by travellers to Europe and the United States. Yet those statistics are disputed as inaccurate by an increasingly vociferous group demanding wider recognition of the disease’s prevalence. Advocates say widespread ignorance of Lyme disease and too-stringent testing standards are leaving sick people undiagnosed with an illness that can be easily treated, if caught early. That’s what Lindberg believes happened to her son. She said Riley was taken to 19 doctors: she requested testing for Lyme disease three times and was denied. “They all said there is no Lyme disease in Alberta,” she said. Her teenager continued to deteriorate, developing what his mother believes to be chronic Lyme disease: a condition that can appear weeks after the initial flu has died down. Riley displayed a dizzying array of symptoms, ranging from facial paralysis to ice pick headaches and sensitivity to sound. He’s since lost more than 30 pounds. Christine says she quit her job as a teacher to care for him full time. Finally, the family took Riley to California for testing. At a clinic called Igenex, they received a positive Lyme diagnosis. When she took the test results back to her Alberta doctors, they didn’t believe it. “At this point I had a 16-year-old who was a debilitated. The doctor said, ‘I will not acknowledge this test because it would show everybody as having Lyme,’ ” Christine said. “When I asked: ‘What do you think he has?’ They couldn’t answer me.” The Lindberg family is now attempting a round of aggressive antibiotics — all of it privately funded as the Alberta health system refuses to acknowledge the diagnosis of Lyme disease, she said. Instead, doctors suggested a psychological problem, such as anorexia. “It’s a horrific experience for a teenager who’s been a thriving, happy, healthy, well-adjusted kid to have doctors say, ‘You need to start eating and you’ll be fine.’ ” Similar stories have prompted the creation of the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, which is trying to raise awareness about a disease with symptoms that can mimic everything from lupus to Lou Gehrig’s disease. The height of summer is the peak season for tick bites, said Janet Sperling, director of the foundation. Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose, Sperling said, because the ticks and associated bull’s-eye-like rashes can be easily missed. Symptoms are varied and can appear well after the patient forgets he or she was ever out walking in the bush — where infected ticks are known to live. In addition, a diagnosis requires a two-tier testing process that Sperling said can produce false-negative results among people who have waited too long after the initial bite. And then there’s the skepticism: “Somehow, there’s this idea that people with Lyme disease are just plain nuts,” she said. There’s this idea the “world is full of these Lyme wannabes who don’t know what they have, but are just nuts and want to blame Lyme because they don’t feel very well.” The rarity of the disease and its chameleon-like nature make this a tempting hypothesis. Lyme disease would be a welcome diagnosis for patients suffering from mysterious or more serious progressive ailments. That a condition like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS or Lou Gehrig’s) could have been misdiagnosed for a less-fatal bacterial infection treatable by antibiotics must offer a ray of hope to the long-suffering. And, of course, Sperling said at least some patients who believe themselves to be Lyme disease-infected must be grasping for just such a panacea. “Of course, naturally, there’s just no question. Talking to people on the phone, we’re not doctors. We do know there is a very large component, the vast majority, 80 per cent of people who are otherwise very healthy people. In particular, they like the outdoors, they like hiking or hunting. They’re very fit, very healthy people who have a sudden downturn in their health,” she said. “These are decent, hard-working Canadians. I just don’t see that very many average Canadians prefer to sit on a couch than get up and do stuff.” Sperling said she knows of about 40 people in Alberta who have sought treatment for Lyme disease in the United States. One of the most common laboratories catering to the disease is based in California. Igenex was investigated by the New York Department of Health in 2005 after worries it was using testing procedures that produced too many false positive results. “There are some private clinics in the U.S. that are using tests that haven’t been validated,” said Corriveau. Canada’s testing procedures are in line with America’s, he added. “This is no longer a theoretical risk in Alberta. You have to keep it in the back of your mind when you’re looking at symptoms,” Corriveau said. Although the province has found six ticks this year, he said “it’s still a rare disease. You have to go to certain places where the ticks are, and get bitten. And not every bite leads to the disease.” In the meantime, Christine Lindberg expects her son to recover, although it may take two years and a steady regimen of privately purchased antibiotics. She said she’s excited to see him graduate high school and take up hockey. “Before all this, he said he was going to apply to be a doctor. I asked if this scared him off and he said: ‘No, if I can get my brain back, I want to be a doctor and I want to be a progressive doctor that thinks outside the box.” (Source: vancouversun)   Socialize this Subscribe to our RSS feed to stay in touch and receive all of TT updates right in your feed reader
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| Last Updated on 01 August 2011 18:52 |