Lyme Disease Pregnancy Outcomes: What a New Survey Reveals Researchers examined Lyme disease pregnancy outcomes using an international cross-sectional survey to explore how Lyme disease during or around pregnancy may affect maternal health and child outcomes. Participants were recruited primarily through a Lyme disease–focused organization, although eligibility was open to anyone over 18 years of […]
How can Lyme disease affect babies? Read More »
In the study “Prevalence of Lyme Carditis in Patients with Atrioventricular Blocks,” Kaczmarek and colleagues aim to identify patients in whom Lyme carditis (LC) should be considered as the underlying cause of AV conduction disturbances.¹ Investigators examined 130 patients with AVB who had been consecutively admitted over a 12-month period, to the Department of Electrocardiology
How common is Lyme carditis in patients referred for pacemaker implantation? Read More »
Chronic babesia infection is one of the most challenging conditions to treat—especially in immunocompromised patients. In the article “Failure of an Approximately Six Week Course of Tafenoquine to Completely Eradicate Babesia microti Infection in an Immunocompromised Patient,” Prasad and Wormser describe a Babesia infection that relapsed repeatedly despite aggressive treatment. The Case: Chronic Babesia in
Chronic Babesia: Why Some Infections Won’t Clear Read More »
The following blogs were the most popular for readers in 2022. (Click on the headline to read the full blog.) 1) Tafenoquine: Treatment for relapsing Babesia This case report describes an immunocompromised patient with Babesia microti who received treatment with tafenoquine after experiencing several relapses. The 36-year-old man was hospitalized in 2019 due to unexplained
Top 10 blogs for 2022! Read More »
In their article “Coexisting Thyroiditis and Carditis in a Patient with Lyme Disease: Looking for a Unifying Diagnosis,” Zarghamravanbakhsh and colleagues described the case of a 53-year-old woman who was found to have carditis and painless, autoimmune thyroiditis, likely due to Lyme disease.¹ A few days after returning from a trip to Delaware, the woman
Can Lyme disease mess with your thyroid? Read More »
“Distinguishing Lyme arthritis (LA), the most common manifestation of the disease in children, from septic arthritis (SA) can be challenging because of overlap in clinical presentations,” the authors state. In this study, investigators “assessed the predictive value of MRI as an aid in identifying LA.” They examined the medical records and MRI scans of children
MRI can help identify Lyme arthritis in children, avoid unnecessary surgery Read More »
Brachial plexopathy from Lyme disease can present as progressive arm weakness, neck pain, and shock-like pains radiating from shoulders — initially misdiagnosed as cellulitis or peripheral nerve injury. A 76-year-old man developed left arm weakness following what he thought was a mosquito bite, received antibiotics for presumed cellulitis with temporary improvement, then returned 24 days
Lyme disease presents as brachial plexopathy and meningitis Read More »
Access to Care Barriers in Lyme Disease Treatment Findings from a study by Johnson and Maloney, “Access to Care in Lyme Disease: Clinician Barriers to Providing Care,” explain why doctors treating Lyme disease often face professional, financial, and regulatory obstacles.¹ These pressures shape real-world treatment decisions and contribute to the limits on antibiotics for Lyme
Why are doctors reluctant to treat Lyme disease? Read More »
A new study looks at the risk of severe COVID-19 in patients with a history of exposure to Lyme disease. In their study “Correlation between COVID-19 severity and previous exposure of patients to Borrelia spp.,” Szewczyk‑Dąbrowska et al.² examined 3 groups of patients: those with severe COVID-19 (hospitalized), asymptomatic to mild COVID-19 (home treated or
Are Lyme disease patients at greater risk for developing severe COVID-19? Read More »
Babesia asplenia is one of the most dangerous combinations in tick-borne disease. In their study “Trust the Process: Prolonged Babesia Parasitemia in an Elderly Man with Asplenia from the American Midwest,” Ivancich and colleagues describe an 89-year-old man with multiple comorbidities and splenectomy, who required 8 weeks of treatment for his Babesia infection to clear.
Babesia Asplenia: Why 8 Weeks of Treatment Wasn’t Enough Read More »
