A young woman notices a bruise that looks like an erythema chronicum migrans lesion on her lower leg.She cannot remember getting bruised, even though she went hiking through the woods last weekend.The bruise goes away in about a week and she thinks nothing more about it.About 2 weeks later, she begins to feel very bad.She has joint and bone pain, extreme fatigue, and her heart just "doesn't feel right." What disease does she have, and what antibiotic is used to treat it?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Infection with Borrelia burgdorferi includes two stages, the first of which is localized.Stage 1: about 60% of patients exhibit erythema chronicum migrans, the classic skin lesion that is normally found at the site of the tick bite.It begins as a red macule and expands to form a large annular erythema with partial central clearing.Stage 2: This is an early disseminated disease and produces widely variable symptoms including secondary skin lesions, migratory joint and bone pain, alarming neurologic and cardiac pathology, splenomegaly, severe malaise, and fatigue.This is treated with doxycycline.

A Young Woman Notices a Bruise That Looks Like an Erythema