Images Dated 10th August 1998

Composite image of a tick and a Borrelia bacterium

Lyme disease tick. Composite image of a coloured scanning electron micrograph (SEM) of a Lyme disease tick (Ixodes sp., orange) on a plant leaf. A coloured transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of the bacterium responsible for the disease (Borrelia burgdorferi, yellow) is in upper frame. A computer artwork of a human heart is at lower right, as Lyme disease causes heart problems such as arrhythmias and angina. The tick is a vector for the bacteria, which it transmits as it travels from host to host drinking blood. The disease causes a red papule at the site of the bite, and arthritis and neurological and cardiac disorders follow. Magnification (tick): x20 at 6x7cm size. Magnification: x20 at 6x6xm - is 6.5x6cm

© VOLKER STEGER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY