Lyme Science Blog

The authors explain, “Immunocompetent, and otherwise healthy, patients present with milder, flu-like symptoms: fever, fatigue, sleepiness, chills, muscle and joint stiffness, aches and pains, and nausea.” And, “While uncommon, relapses of febrile episodes can occur.” In fact, the symptoms may be mild enough that an individual with Borrelia miyamotoi disease may not seek medical care. However, […]

Now, investigators have identified the Heartland virus in the Maryland and Virginia region – an area where the virus is not widely recognized. In their article “Fatal Case of Heartland Virus Disease Acquired in the Mid-Atlantic Region, United States,”¹ Liu and colleagues describe the fatal case of a man in his 60’s who acquired the

In their article “Borrelia miyamotoi: A Comprehensive Review. Pathogens,” Cleveland and colleagues discuss Borrelia miyamotoi as an emerging tick-borne pathogen and and how it can be transmitted from a mother tick to their offspring. Cleveland et al. reviewed the proposed vertical transmission of B. miyamotoi.¹ An adult female tick infected with B. miyamotoi lays eggs.

Lyme disease can directly infiltrate the heart leading to an exaggerated inflammatory response when spirochetes penetrate the heart. Lyme carditis can appear within 1 to 2 months after the onset of a Lyme disease infection, wrote Yeung and Baranchuk.¹ They point out, the most common presentation of LC (90%) is high-degree atrioventricular (AV) block (AVB).

The authors explored the current Long-COVID literature, and specifically addressed the cardiovascular, thrombotic and cerebrovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and dysautonomia seen in Long-COVID. The authors did not include Lyme disease in their discussion. “One study found that fatigue, headache, dizziness, dyspnoea, chest pain, dysosmia, dysgeusia, reduced appetite, concentration difficulties,

The study entitled “Ischemic Stroke With Hemorrhagic Conversion in a Case of Lyme Neuroborreliosis” by Sathi and colleagues describes the case of a 59-year-old man who presented to a hospital in Florida with ischemic stroke with aphasia and acute confusion that had been ongoing for two days. The patient had a medical history which included

The existence of Lyme disease in Greece remains controversial. In a recent study “Serological evidence of possible Borrelia afzelii lyme disease in Greece,” Karageorgou and colleagues examined patients throughout Greece suspected for Lyme disease by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and by western blotting for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species. “We found one patient positive for

In their article, “Case report: human granulocytic anaplasmosis causes acute myopericarditis with atrial fibrillation,” Levy et al. describe the case of a 65-year-old man who presented to the emergency room with fever and malaise, which had persisted for one week.¹ An electrocardiogram showed new atrial fibrillation and conduction abnormalities. The man resides in a suburb

“Lyme disease has been associated with a wide variety of persistent neuropsychological and cognitive symptoms, including: impaired attention, focus, concentration, judgment, and impulse control,” in addition to impaired memory and speech functions, according to an article published by Amen Clinics.¹ Recent studies of patients with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) have found “consistent deficits in

One study found black patients with Lyme disease were more likely to present with disseminated disease. The authors suggested, “This may be due to failure to recognize early disease (erythema migrans) among African Americans, resulting in increased rates of late manifestations.”¹ Ly reported similar results using 2015–2016 claims data sample of Traditional Medicare beneficiaries. “Among