Prominent American Comes Face to Face With Bioterror
by Benjamin Roberts, 2007

He is powerful. Arguably the most powerful and most protected citizen on our planet. He has lethal warplanes overflying Washington, DC, around the clock, to protect our nation’s capital, but most especially himself, from any incoming threats. Planes ferrying regular citizens into the capital must take contorted landing routes to ensure that this man and his house are not endangered. He has unofficially been assigned an exclusivity zone within which demonstrators, hecklers, and those disaffected by him are not allowed to enter. He travels the skies in an aircraft that, without doubt, has the best technology to ensure his security. On the night prior to September 11 he had the unprecedented benefit of lethal missiles bristling from the roof of the Florida resort he was occupying, to counter any long range threat. For any immediate and personal threat, this man has a security detail of some of the most efficient Praetorian guard types that would make Roman Emperor, Nero, green with envy. This man is none other than George Bush, the President of the United States. One would think that with all this the world’s most protected man would be totally immune from attack. Not so. Less than a year ago Bush suffered a serious attack. From, of all things, a tick! Yes. With all the power and protection George Bush enjoys, no one could guard him from bioterror attack, albeit natural, by the lowly tick named Ixodes.

This month’s news reported that President Bush had been treated last year for Lyme disease. The condition is so named because it was first isolated as the cause of an outbreak in children in the city of Lyme, Connecticut, in 1975. It is a very debilitating disease that has laid low a significant number of us living in America. The illness is transmitted to humans when they are bitten by the tick, Ixodes, while feeding. In this process they transmit the bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi into our bloodstream. This germ, shaped like a corkscrew or spring, creates havoc once in our system. In the early stage of infection the person would experience headaches, stiff neck, muscle pains, joint pains, fatigue, lethargy, and swollen lymph nodes. Weeks or months later, if untreated, the condition become racheted up to the more serious symptoms of brain inflammation, inflammation of the heart, migrating muscle and bone pain, and chronic and debilitating arthritis that seriously restricts normal joint movement. There have been close to 100,000 cases of the disease reported as of 1996, and it continues to mushroom, especially in our northeastern seaboard states.

Lyme disease, in most cases, responds well to treatment with antibiotics such as the tetracyclines, amoxcillin, and erythromycin for those allergic to the former two choices. Severe untreated cases with progression to neurological, cardiac, and arthritic symptoms, often require more potent drugs like ceftriaxone. Studies have shown that there can be treatment failure where the drugs, even in potent doses, do not cure the disease. Not good news. The moral of the story then is, by all means try not to get the disease. This involves reducing activity in wooded areas where the tick resides, wearing protective clothing, and using repellents. Having suffered through my treatise on what causes Lyme disease, the unpleasant symptoms, and how it is treated, we now have to ask an important question. What has George Bush, America, and the world at large learned about his getting this disease?

In terms of what George Bush might have learned I begin by prefacing my statements by saying that anyone reading my articles over the years does not have to be Sherlock Holmes to detect that I am not enamored by George Bush. That stems from my perception of how he has handled this great country called America. However, in the instance of this writing, I have determined to show him the consideration and compassion I would for any fellow human being struggling with a difficult and unpleasant ordeal. I cannot do otherwise. There is an old saying, the essence of which is that, A king, for all his power and greatness, can do but little to stop the lowly spider from making its home in the most secret chambers of his palace. That saying fits Bush today like a glove. For all the immense power he enjoys as leader of the world’s greatest nation, there is little that can be done to protect him from a seemingly insignificant tick. In other words, Bush is no more superior or privileged than any of us other citizens who call this earth our home. Quite a humbling experience for someone who at times projects an aura that he transcends the average person, as in his ‘I’m the President of the United States, and no one tells me what to do,’ statement.

Hopefully, George Bush’s infection with Lyme disease provides him some insight into the daily lives of his fellow citizens who are burdened with this illness. As President of this country George Bush benefits from state of the art healthcare, to ensure that he can lead unhindered. This should be so. However, many citizens with this disease, enjoy no such privileges. A Texan, responding to the article on Bush’s Lyme disease shared that she has had the illness for some time but her medical insurance carrier refuses coverage because the Lyme disease tick is not considered to be infective in the state of Texas. Maybe not. But what if the young woman has a family and had packed them in the car and driven up to Maryland for Thanksgiving with Ma Jane, Pa Bill, and the rest of the clan, where she got bit by Ixodes on a Fall evening walk in the woods. She might have traveled to New York for an opera concert at the Met, and fallen victim to Ixodes after a brisk walk in the park. Or she might be the spouse of a Navy man and had gone to Connecticut to see him at his base before his new assignment.. An evening walk in the woods, and she might have come in contact with Ixodes.. Shucks. She, or one of her family, might have fallen in love with Rover while visiting family on one of those east coast trips, and just had to bring him back to Texas as a pet. Yes. Deer are not the exclusive hosts for the Ixodes tick. They hitch rides with, and can take up residence on, household pets as well.

Consider this. George Bush is from Texas also. If he did not have special healthcare as President, and was only covered in his resident state, then his carrier could deny him treatment for the same reasons as this lady. But privilege gives you advantages. Bush could then claim Kennebunkport, Maine, as his true family residence. Voila! Covered. This lady is afforded no such avenue. What a pathetic healthcare system where, an insurance company grunt, with no medical or health background, whose sole purpose is to limit or deny any expense to his employer, can deceive and trick a fellow American. The truth is this insurance company individual is more dangerous than the infecting tick. By being allowed to be so deceptive and disingenuous, he is allowing the illness to rampage unchecked in the victim, and to run amok in the state simply because it has not been identified up to that point. For heaven sakes! In the potential Rover scenario the lady could have the tick on her pet passing around Lyme disease in her household and the expanding environs, while some devious ‘insurance claim specialist,’ is insisting that Texas is a Lyme disease free state. Breathtaking! Such behavior borders on criminal. Why do we in America put up with it? Michael Moore use of the word ‘Sicko,’ to describe our healthcare system is right on target. One would hope that the combination of Bush having this disease, coupled with the ordeal of one of his fellow Texans in the same predicament, will show him that our healthcare system is a circus act that needs to be replaced.

Hopefully, Bush’s Lyme disease will highlight how he is a positive influence on America. I know many of my readers will be floored hearing me say this, and will be considering bringing out a straightjacket. But let me explain. George Bush is more active than most Presidents we have seen in a long time. Physical activity is very important to him. He cycles, jogs, and does physical outdoor work at his ranch. I genuinely applaud him for this. This is a good example for an America that is becoming alarmingly overweight from being a permanent fixture on the couch, and supersizing everything that goes down their throat. Lyme disease can sap a person’s ability to be physically active. My hope is that George Bush, President of the United States, recovers fully from his illness so that he can, in this instance, continue to be a good example for his fellow citizens.