Post by Patti on Jun 26, 2006 10:43:05 GMT -5
"In the U. S., where it [Lyme disease bacteria] is more common, it is the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria. In the UK a related strain - Borrelia garinii - is predominant."
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www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html? in_article_id=391579&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ito=1490
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Daily Mail London, United Kingdom
June 20, 2006
How a tick bite destroyed the career of an athletics champion
Daily Mail Reporter
A leading athlete who ran for Britain has had her sporting dream shattered - by a tick.
Kirsty Waterson's life has been turned upside down by a disease she picked up after she was bitten by one of the bugs while running in a forest.
The long-distance runner contracted Lyme Disease, which left her with headaches and severe fatigue.
But most distressing for Miss Waterson is the fact that athletics training can trigger setbacks in the condition. This has left her unable to regain her fitness - or her place in the athletics world.
'I have to take it a day at a time. It makes me feel very tired,' said Miss Waterson. 'By 6pm I often have to go to sleep. I have lost a lot of weight.
'A lot of people in the athletics world have asked "Where's Kirsty gone?". I am desperate to get back to my original fitness level. But I have tried so many times and each time I try, I get ill.'
She was competing in the Suffolk Cross Country Championships when she was bitten and contracted Lyme Disease.
Miss Waterson, who has run with the likes of Paula Radcliffe, thought little of the tiny rash which developed on her ankle after the Thetford Forest race in January 2004. She didn't see a doctor for eight months.
When she did seek help, the doctor was baffled by the rash and referred her to a skin specialist. Blood tests revealed she had Lyme Disease.
The illness is caused by a bacteria carried by the tick which is transmitted when the tick begins to draw up the host's blood.
In the U. S., where it is more common, it is the Borrelia burgdor- feri bacteria. In the UK a related strain - Borrelia garinii - is predominant.
Rash
Typically a rash appears at the bite mark. At this stage victims can also experience joint pains, fever and fatigue, and as the bacteria spreads around the body, a stiff neck, facial paralysis and tingling.
More severe symptoms can include severe headaches, painful arthritis and joint swelling, heart problems and even mental disorders such as short-term memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Antibiotics are used to treat Lyme Disease, but if the illness is not caught early it does not respond well to treatment.
Miss Waterson, of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, escaped the most debilitating symptoms and her doctors say she is over the worst. However, it can recur and it has so far stopped her returning to the running track.
She belonged to the St Edmunds Pacers running club and at 15 came third in the England cross country championships. At 16 she became South of England cross country champion for under-17 women.
The same year, 1999, she came second in the England cross-country championships and in 2001 she ran for the Great Britain and Northern Ireland Under-20s women in the World Cross Country Championships in Dublin.
Peter Golding, chairman of St Edmunds Pacers, said: 'This is a tragic shame. Kirsty was a prodigious talent - probably the best to have ever come out of this area.'
Miss Waterson, who is an estate agent but is due to start training as a beauty therapist, said: 'My doctors say I am over it, but I'm not. With me it comes and goes, a bit like glandular fever.'
Left with a small scar on her ankle where the tick buried itself, Miss Waterson wants others to avoid going through her ordeal.
'Many have not heard of Lyme Disease or assume you can only catch it in North America,' she said. 'If they are walking or running in forests they should wear long trousers and long sleeves.
'And if they do get a rash, they should get it checked out. Not getting it checked out for eight months was my biggest mistake.'
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