Laurie Martin

“Case reports of neuropsychological manifestations of Lyme disease that are of special interest to psychiatrists include: Alice in Wonderland syndrome (sensation that things are getting larger and smaller), Tourette’s syndrome, acute delirium, catatonia, psychosis, and stroke mimics such as aphasia,” writes Koster and Garro in the journal Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America. […]

The study found that as many as 43% of the respondents believe tick bites constitute a “large or very large risk to his/her health or the health of his/her family,” writes Slunge and Boman, from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, in the journal PLoS One. [1] Interestingly, this is higher than the perceived health risks

The study looked at long-term survival, health, social functioning, and education in patients with European Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB). The authors found no difference between patients with LNB and the general population in several areas, including: education, divorce and marriage rate, or mortality. Furthermore, although there was a greater number of patients on disability than expected,

Patients with recurrent Lyme disease and Lyme encephalopathy have waited an average of 2 years before receiving treatment, [1,2]  This delay can have life-long repercussions. Once the Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection disseminates, symptoms can become more problematic and treatment more difficult. There has been limited published information about the reasons for such delays. Now, a

According to the CDC, in 2016, nearly 38% of all Lyme disease cases occurred in Pennsylvania. Other studies report “ticks infected with B. burgdorferi are now detectable in every county in Pennsylvania, with infection rates similar to that of endemic Northeastern states.” Now, a new study examines the impact of Lyme disease among children living

“The impact of Lyme disease on work and caregiving activities emerged as a salient theme for participants, impacting patients prior to treatment and, in some cases, even after treatment,” writes Hirsch and colleagues in the British Medical Journal. [1] The authors identified 26 patients who were diagnosed with Lyme disease between 2014 and 2017 and

The series by Wormser and colleagues, published in the journal Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease examines the success of treatment after long-term follow-up with eleven patients. [1] All of the patients with LDFP received corticosteroids, in addition to antibiotics. The authors found that 6 of the 11 patients (54.5%) suffered from facial nerve dysfunction an

“Our ignorance is often unbearable and may lead us to turn a blind eye on non-lesional diseases,” explains Raoult from the Aix-Marseille Université in France. [1] Such ignorance, Raoult says, has at times led scientists to believe that some diseases had a “psychiatric cause while they were somatic and could be easily treated.” One could say

Over the years, there has been much discussion and debate over whether reducing the deer population would in turn help lower the risk of Lyme disease, particularly in endemic regions. A 2014 study found that reducing the deer population “dramatically reduced I. scapularis abundance and Lyme disease cases on a Connecticut peninsula.” [1] A study