These questions come up for me because of issues with my own kids. My two youngest are having issues in school and one of them also suffers from similar symptoms that I have myself and it makes we wonder. I fear that I have given this to them and they will suffer my fate as they get older and are exposed to many more things.
I hate that there is not answers to these questions out there, fact is they don't know. They can only speculate and that is it. It is infuriating to think that this could be happening and nothing is being done to research it or to even prevent it. That these kids may have to suffer until they are adults and pursue their own ailments as we are doing.
After alot of searching for these answers I have only come across a few things.
http://www.cdc.gov/lyme/transmission/
Are there other ways to get Lyme disease?
- There is no evidence that Lyme disease is transmitted from person-to-person. For example, a person cannot get infected from touching, kissing or having sex with a person who has Lyme disease.
- Lyme disease acquired during pregnancy may lead to infection of the placenta and possible stillbirth; however, no negative effects on the fetus have been found when the mother receives appropriate antibiotic treatment. There are no reports of Lyme disease transmission from breast milk. (So what if the mother is unaware she has Lyme? What if she is not getting treated?)
- Although no cases of Lyme disease have been linked to blood transfusion, scientists have found that the Lyme disease bacteria can live in blood that is stored for donation. Individuals being treated for Lyme disease with an antibiotic should not donate blood. Individuals who have completed antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease may be considered as potential blood donors. Information on the current criteria for blood donation is available on the Red Cross website .(So this tells me that it is very possible to be transferred through blood products! If they "know" it can be stored in the blood then it is obvious it can spread to someone else this way. They act as though everyone knows if they have Lyme or not, most of the time they don't know.)
- Although dogs and cats can get Lyme disease, there is no evidence that they spread the disease directly to their owners. However, pets can bring infected ticks into your home or yard. Consider protecting your pet, and possibly yourself, through the use of tick control products for animals.
- You will not get Lyme disease from eating venison or squirrel meat, but in keeping with general food safety principles meat should always be cooked thoroughly. Note that hunting and dressing deer or squirrels may bring you into close contact with infected ticks.
- There is no credible evidence that Lyme disease can be transmitted through air, food, water, or from the bites of mosquitoes, flies, fleas, or lice. ( I love how they say "no credible evidence" but they are unsure...)
- Ticks not known to transmit Lyme disease include Lone star ticks (Amblyomma americanum), the American dog tick (Dermacentor variabilis), the Rocky Mountain wood tick (Dermacentor andersoni), and the brown dog tick (Rhipicephalus sanguineus).
***This is also on their website:
I am pregnant and just found out I have Lyme disease. What should I do?
If you are pregnant and suspect you have contracted Lyme disease, contact your physician immediately. Untreated Lyme disease during pregnancy may lead to infection of the placenta and possible stillbirth.
Thankfully, no serious effects on the fetus have been found in cases where the mother receives appropriate antibiotic treatment for her Lyme disease. In general, treatment for pregnant women with Lyme disease is similar to that of non-pregnant adults, although certain antibiotics, such as doxycycline, are not used because they can affect fetal development.
Additionally, there are no reports of Lyme disease transmission from breast milk.
Here is a video that raises the same questions.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/article/157219/28/Could-Pregnant-Women-Transmit-Lyme-Disease-To-Their-Kids
http://www.aldf.com/Misinformation_about_Lyme_Disease.shtml
Transplacental transmission of B. burgdorferi in humans has been demonstrated in association with adverse fetal outcome in four case reports. The first report was of a 28-year old woman with untreated Lyme disease during the first trimester of pregnancy who gave birth at 35 weeks gestation to an infant with widespread cardiovascular abnormalities (16). This infant died during the first week of life and postmortem examination showed spirochetes morphologically compatible with B. burgdorferi in the infant's spleen, kidneys, and bone marrow, but not in the heart. In contrast to the mononuclear cell infiltrate and proliferation of fibroblasts usually seen with congenital syphilis (17), there was no evidence of inflammation, necrosis, or granuloma formation in this infant's heart or other organs. In a second report, a 24-year-old woman with untreated Lyme disease in the first trimester of pregnancy gave birth at term to a 2500-gram stillborn (18). B. burgdorferi was cultured from the liver, and spirochetes were seen in the heart, adrenal glands, liver, brain, and placenta with both immunofluorescent and silver stains. However, no evidence of inflammation was seen, and there were no abnormalities noted except for a small ventricular septal defect. The third report was a 37-year old woman who received penicillin orally for 1 week for erythema migrans during the first trimester of pregnancy and subsequently delivered a 3400-gram infant at term who died at 23 hours of age of what was believed to be "perinatal brain damage" (19). B. burgdorferi was identified in the newborn's brain using immunochromogenic staining with monoclonal antibodies. However, no significant inflammation or other abnormalities were found in any organ, including the brain, on postmortem examination. Finally, an otherwise healthy child who presented with multiple annular, erythematous lesions, fever, and generalized lymphadenopathy at 3 weeks of age, experienced these clinical findings recurrently throughout the first 3 years of life despite oral therapy with amoxicillin and josamycin (20). A skin biopsy revealed spirochetes by silver stain and was positive for B. burgdorferi by PCR assay. In addition, serologic studies were positive for infection withB. burgdorferi. The patient's mother had no history of either a tick bite or of Lyme disease, but she had been involved in outdoor activities in an endemic area and had a weakly positive serologic test for Lyme disease. No association between maternal Lyme disease and an adverse outcome of the pregnancy were described in several other case reports of pregnant women with either erythema migrans or neuroborreliosis who were treated with appropriate antimicrobial therapy at different stages of their pregnancy (21-24).
(How come this is not evidence that it is transmitted to the unborn child?? It blatantly states that these babies had the infection after they were born and its obvious they did not get a tick bite in the hospital! Not to mention these women were treated for Lyme during pregnancy, what about all the ones that aren't?)
Here is another great article from a Texas woman passing Lyme onto her two children.
http://www.examiner.com/article/local-lady-passes-lyme-to-kids-during-pregnancy
Something else I found:
http://medpgworld.com/tag/tick/
These are just a few things, but isn't this enough to warrant an explanation or research into the matter further than it has been? I think it is and I think that other women with Lyme disease would like to know this information as well. I do not think any mother would want to pass anything onto their children and especially a disease like this one that no one takes seriously enough.
So I leave you to reach your own conclusions...think about what you can do to help, to raise awareness.