Five years ago, Boone resident Judith Weeg was bitten by a tick while living in Philadelphia.

After Weeg was bitten, she came home to Iowa to seek assistance from the doctors she trusted.

After being misdiagnosed by Iowa doctors for two years, she now is experiencing life in the latter stages of Lyme disease.

“The doctors had no clue,” Weeg said. “Iowa doctors, trained at the University of Iowa, have little education in the field of Lyme disease.”

As the disease has grown more and more serious, Weeg has lost the ability to walk, read or write.

“I have an IV line that goes directly into my heart,” she said. “I give myself antibiotics daily through the IV in order to stay alive.”

Weeg compares the pain of chronic Lyme disease to a “tortuous coma.”

“Lyme disease attacks every part of your body,” she said.

“Your muscles are attacked by bacteria, and you have arthritis in every joint,” she said. “For five years, I have felt as if my muscles were being shredded by a knife. The pain level is beyond anyone’s comprehension.”

After contracting the disease, Weeg made a devotion to spread the word about the Lyme bacteria.

As a Lyme disease educator, she has “made a mission to teach the public and the medical profession about the disease.”

As part of this task, Weeg has served as a board member of the Iowa Lyme Disease Association for the past three years.

The Iowa Lyme Disease Association was established in 1988 and its purpose is to “provide education about Lyme disease prevention and treatment,” said Kathy Cuddeback, president of the Iowa Lyme Disease Association.

The ILDA is a nonprofit organization that provides support to Lyme disease patients and their families, Cuddeback said.

“We give presentations to medical professionals and the public. We create a Lyme disease curriculum for teachers in classrooms K through 12,” she said.

Cuddeback herself has chronic Lyme disease.

Not only does she battle her own ailment, but she gave birth to a daughter with congenital Lyme disease during the time she was misdiagnosed, Cuddeback said.

Lyme disease, which was first identified in 1975, is a bacterial infection caused by bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi and is transmitted through the bite of an infected tick.

The most common tick infected with the bacteria is the Ixodes scapularis, otherwise known as the black-legged tick or deer tick, said Wayne Rowley, professor of entomology who researches ticks and the agents that they transmit.

The early signs of Lyme disease include a rash, flu-like symptoms such as fatigue, muscle and joint pain, headache, fever, chills, sore throat, stiff neck and swollen glands.

“Seventy percent of infected people develop a rash,” Rowley said. “However, the absence of a rash doesn’t mean the person is not infected.”

Lyme disease is difficult to diagnose as it can “masquerade as many things,” said Dr. Malhar Gor‚, staff physician at the Student Health Center.

If detected in the early stages, Lyme disease treatment is easy to undergo, Gor‚ said.

Although the disease responds well to antibiotics in any stage, if it is caught in the early stage, there is 100 percent treatment, Rowley said.

“If a student discovers any form of a rash or flu-like systems, muscle weakness or brain disorientation, they should insist on two months of antibiotics or call the association. We can refer them to a refined testing doctor,” Weeg said.

Although early cases of the disease are treatable, the best cure is prevention, Weeg said.

“When students are in tall grasses, they should wear light-colored clothes so ticks are visible, long sleeves and their socks over pantlegs,” Weeg said.

Students should avoid areas where the disease is prevalent and wear appropriate clothing — bites typically occur on legs and thighs, Gor‚ said.

Gor‚ suggests the Lyme disease vaccination to students who partake in outdoor activities as they are at high risk.

“The vaccination is not a cure, but is protection against the disease,” he said.

The vaccination is offered year round and is a series of three shots, said Mary Fossey, international travel nurse at the Student Health Center.

“You need to have had the complete series before you have effective immunity,” she said.

Each shot costs $60, Fossey said.

“[The vaccine] is not cheap, but getting Lyme disease can cost in ways other than money,” she said.

Students can call the Student Health Center for an appointment to receive the LYMErix vaccination.

If a tick is discovered on one’s body, according to a Lyme Disease Foundation hand-out, ticks should be removed using fine-point tweezers by grasping the tick at the place of attachment and as close to the skin as possible.

The tick should be pulled straight out with steady pressure. The tick should never be burned, smothered or squeezed as it will release infectious fluids.

“The ticks most likely to have the Lyme bacteria are as small as a pinhead. When removing it, never squash it because it can penetrate closed skin,” Weeg said.

Removed ticks should be placed in a vial with a blade of grass and labeled with the person’s name and address and sent for identification.

Ticks can be sent to the Iowa State Entomology Lab for testing, Rowley said.

According to an ILDA pamphlet, many areas in Iowa have infected ticks that are transmitted throughout the state by deer, mice, other mammals and migratory birds.

“The infected ticks can be found primarily in the eastern one-third of the state,” Rowley said.

According to an ILDA information sheet, 15,934 cases of Lyme disease were reported in 1998.

Most cases were reported in the mid-Atlantic, northeastern and midwestern regions of the United States.

Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Wisconsin accounted for 91 percent of the nationally reported cases.

“The states surrounding Iowa have large problems with Lyme disease. There is no wall around Iowa keeping deer from Minnesota and Wisconsin from migrating here,” Weeg said.

Weeg feels that Lyme disease deserves more attention at the university.

“Iowa State needs more grant money to study this problem,” she said.

“Scientists are not helping the perpetuation of doctors ignoring the disease in this state. Everyone’s heads are in the sand,” Weeg said.

For more information on Lyme disease, contact Cuddeback via e-mail at [email protected].