Did you see some one before who can fly without wings or move without legs? You will answer : definitely no, but I know someone, or better yet some living thing, who can do just both and it is called Borrelia burgdorferi; let’s share its story. It is a loosely coiled bacterium belonging to a class called spirochetes (moving bacteria).

Borrelia burgdorferi

Borrelia burgdorferi is motile through the undulation of its axial filaments. It is transmitted to humans by the bite of infected ticks (Ixodes scapularis and Ixodes pacificus) and cause a serious progressive disease called lyme disease.

The story of lyme disease began in 1975 when a mother, with her children in lyme city in the United States, was admitted to a hospital with signs of rheumatoid arthritis. It was a mysterious case until the discovery of Borrelia burgdorferi and that is how the disease got its name, when it was discovered in 1982. Symptoms and signs of lyme disease can be categorized into three phases:

Phase (1): An early localized skin rash, characterized by inflamed red edges with a clear white center at the site of insect bite, appears and is called “erythema migrans“.

Erythema migrans

Phase (2): The rash resolves as the bacteria begin to move into the blood stream towards their target organs like large joints, heart, and nervous system.

Phase (3): Inflammation of heart muscle leads to abnormal rhythm, meningitis, confusion and finally arthritis.

Treatment in the early phase is an easy mission by amoxicillin or doxycycline, orally for few weeks. However, the recommended regimen in late stages include parenteral ceftriaxone, analgesics to control the severe pain, and anti-inflammatory drugs, usually required for months .

Images credits:
Borrelia burgdorferi: http://www.wadsworth.org/databank/hirez/hechemy2.gif
Erythema migrans: http://phil.cdc.gov/PHIL_Images/9875/9875_lores.jpg

Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Recently, it has been all over the news in the United States…warning americans about buying tomatoes, pepper, and different kinds of vegetables “They even suggested some pretty clever alternatives” due to a Salmonella outbreak, which made over 1,200 people sick throughout the nation.

Now “after two months of the intial discovery”, the outbreak has been linked to irrigation water contaminating a certain type of pepper at a Mexican farm, stored in a warehouse in Texas. Officials are being blamed now for putting too much spot-light over tomatoes when in fact they did not significantly contribute to the arousal of the problem in the first place. Their hope now would be to discover that the same irrigation water was also used on tomatoes and not just the pepper.

The FDA declares that it IS safe to eat tomatoes and pepper grown in the US, urging consumers to be open and ask their local grocery stores & restaurants about the source of these vegetables. 
For the time being, I would strongly avoid any Mexian salsa 🙂