Lyme Science Blog

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 chronic relapsing Babesia infection in an elderly woman.¹ The 74-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital in August 2021 with a 2-day history of fatigue and fevers. She […]

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

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

“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

In their article “Early Lyme neuroborreliosis manifesting as brachial plexopathy and meningitis in Northwestern Ontario, Canada,” Gu and colleagues describe a case of Lyme disease presenting as brachial plexopathy and meningitis.1 The 76-year-old man was initially admitted to the hospital with left arm weakness and neck pain. He also had a 3-day history of body

Findings from a study by Johnson and Maloney, “Access to Care in Lyme Disease: Clinician Barriers to Providing Care,” provide some insight into why clinicians may be hesitant in treating Lyme disease.¹ “The primary goal of this study was to identify the challenges faced by clinicians who provide care for patients with PLD/CLD,” the authors

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

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.¹ The man was evaluated after a fall at home. Prior to the

Carson and colleagues surveyed clinicians between August 2020 and February 2022 and reported their findings in the article “Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Illinois medical professionals related to ticks and tick-borne disease.” ¹ The respondents included RNs (61.3%), physicians (21.4%), and APNs/PAs (17.3%). The authors found that clinicians were best at identifying Lyme disease. Out

In their article “Powassan Encephalitis: A Case Report from New York, USA,”  Bazer and colleagues describe a male patient who was admitted to the hospital in December due to altered mental status, dysarthria, and a left facial droop.¹ The man also had a history of multiple medical problems including of a right putamen infarct, hepatitis