Tick-ing Time Bomb: Lyme Disease Conquers New Territory

In the summer of 1975 a group of children who often played together developed an unusual flu-like illness with severe joint pain. They were diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA). All of them lived in a small town at the mouth of the Connecticut River called Lyme. The story of their disease contains all the elements of a good novel; mystery, loss, blood, empathy, indifference, conflict, controversy and conspiracy, truth and fiction. Doctors suspect JRA when they see kids with persistent joint pain or swelling, unexplained skin rashes, and fever associated with swelling of lymph nodes or inflammation of internal organs. No single test can be used to make the diagnosis. Both the cause and the cure of JRA, an autoimmune disorder, are unknown. But it is not an infectious disease. Polly Murray, a skeptical mother of two sick kids whose knees were so swollen they couldn't walk without crutches, didn't think the diagnosis made any sense. None of the physicians could explain what would cause a localized outbreak of an autoimmune condition. She later contracted the disorder and felt unheard by the local doctors. Murray alerted the Connecticut Department of Health. It is fair to say that Polly Murray was the first Lyme Disease investigator. Connecticut's chief epidemiologist contacted Yale University. Dr. Allen Steere, then a fellow there in rheumatology, was assigned to investigate. The chief informed Steele that a concerned mother in Lyme had reported a curious cluster...
Source: Healthy Living - The Huffington Post - Category: Consumer Health News Source Type: news