Professor of Immunology and Allergy. Dr. Ali Kutlu made a statement about Lyme disease. As the weather warms up, the incidence of Lyme disease caused by fungus bites has increased, with more people in rural areas. Dr. Ali Kutlu said, “Lyme disease manifests itself in a few days by reddening of various insects, especially those bitten by ticks. If this redness is not noticed or stopped, it can cause various complaints in people like weakness, muscle, joint, headache, nerve paralysis, depression.
Untreated cases become chronic
Professor Dr. Ali Kutlu said that Lyme disease, whose nature and harm to society is not fully understood and where there is intense debate in the scientific community about its importance, is a concern of physicians in almost every branch. Referring to the tick bite as a spreading nuisance, it is the cause of various complaints with its hypocrisy and long-term course, said Prof. Dr. Dr. Ali Kutlu said, “Almost all of the patients who develop a unique skin lesion after a bite are cured with appropriate treatment at an early stage. About 20 percent of untreated cases become chronic and cause permanent damage as the disease progresses.”
May be confused with other diseases
Lyme disease is easily overlooked and the disease is said to be a silent epidemic in the Northern Hemisphere. Dr. Ali Kutlu said that 400,000 acute cases are detected in the United States every year, while the number detected in our country is only around 80-90. Professor Dr. Ali Kutlu shared the following information about this dangerous disease:
“Lime disease turns red and reveals that some stinging insects, especially ticks, are formed within a few days at the bite site. Classical laboratory tests, known as great mimics, can be confused with hundreds of diseases, including weakness, muscle, joint, headache, nerve paralysis, depression, poisoning the lives of patients year after year and causing various complaints. The presence of antibodies in the blood, which we strongly believe is insufficient to diagnose, makes it an easily overlooked disease. Although the number of new cases diagnosed in our country is not more than one finger, according to some physicians, an estimate based on US statistics, the disease is expected to affect about 7 million people. Since patients’ complaints are very similar to complaints of various diseases and it is not usually possible to diagnose by classical diagnostic methods or laboratory tests for antibodies, physicians cannot diagnose a large proportion of these patients. It is safe to say that we can only see the tip of the iceberg for the number of patients diagnosed. “
With increasing temperatures, the habitat of ticks may expand
Professor Dr. Ali Kutlu; He underlined that with global warming, the habitat of ticks has expanded, people spend more time in the countryside for sports or social purposes, and the tendency to keep pets at home could lead to an increase in Lyme disease.
Tests are very important for diagnosis
Dark field microscopy and advanced immunological tests by an experienced physician have been shown to be extremely important in diagnosing the disease. Dr. Ali Kutlu ended his speech as follows:
“The Black Sea region where I work is almost the birthplace of ticks. When you think of tick-borne diseases, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic disease first comes to mind, but ticks can cause a variety of health problems. As an allergist, for example, Alpha-Cheek Syndrome, a strange red meat allergy associated with ticks, is very common in our region. However, our country is not known as one of the most common places in the world for alpha-gall syndrome. New data show that the disease, which is caused by ticks, is very severe in the Black Sea. Similarly, although there are no studies related to the prevalence of Lyme disease in our region, many hidden cases are expected. In short; We should take care of the complaints that occur after a tick or insect bite and we should not think that it will correct itself. If these complaints are not treated in time with proper diagnosis, they easily turn into a rapidly progressing and chronic disease and then the treatment process becomes more difficult. For this reason, caution must be exercised about the severity and spread of diseases caused by ticks.