Lyme Science Blog

Between 2006 and 2016, researchers received 8,608 ticks from 22 states in the U.S. [1] However, most of the ticks were collected in Monmouth County, New Jersey, where the investigators were located. Monmouth County has long been recognized as endemic for Lyme disease. Researchers found that lone star ticks accounted for nearly half (48.1%) of […]

The retrospective study included 10 patients diagnosed with post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome, who had autonomic testing performed between 2016 and 2018 at the Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital Autonomic laboratory. [1] The authors aimed to identify SFN as a possible biomarker of “PTLDS,” in addition to evaluating autonomic dysfunction associated with presumed small fiber neuropathy

“While questing, ticks hold onto leaves and grass by their third and fourth pair of legs. They hold the first pair of legs outstretched, waiting to climb onto the host,” according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). “When a host brushes the spot where a tick is waiting, it quickly

According to the authors, the 14-day course effectively cleared the patients’ erythema migrans rashes and “prevented the development of objective neurologic, cardiac, or rheumatologic manifestations.” One patient was retreated with amoxicillin. Two others could not be evaluated at 1-year follow-up due to a recurrent erythema migrans (EM) rash. But 4 out of the 24 patients

The existence of Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. in Brazil was recently confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, writes Miziara in the journal Clinics (Sao Paulo). [1] The Amblyomma and Rhipicephalus genera ticks can transmit the bacteria to humans through the bite of an infected tick. In the U.S., Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. is transmitted by Ixodes scapularis

Acute transverse myelitis is a rare neurologic condition that leaves one-third of patients with severe neurologic disability. It is characterized by varying degrees of bilateral motor, sensory, and autonomic dysfunction. Symptoms can progress rapidly within hours or within days, explains Dumic, from Mayo Clinic and lead author of the case report “Acute transverse myelitis: A

They found that out of 181 patients, 32 presented with an erythema migrans rash. The Lyme disease cases were positive on a C6 peptide and confirmed with a Western blot test. The veterans exhibited: joint pain (58), myalgias and fatigue (34), headache/neck pain (27), peripheral neuropathy (14), seventh nerve palsy (5), and palpitations (2). Several

The first case involved a 50-year-old woman, who was admitted to the hospital in South Korea with a fever, abdominal pain, and nausea. She had visited a forest in New Jersey four weeks earlier and had reportedly developed an erythematous lesion on her lower right calf. Two days later she developed headaches, myalgia, fever and

Clinical signs and symptoms depend on the affected region of the spinal cord, explains Kaiser and colleagues in a recently published case report, “Lyme myelopathy: Case report and literature review of a rare but treatable disorder.” [1] The causes of ATM include “demyelinating processes, infections, autoimmune disorders, malignancies, vascular insults, and nutritional deficiencies,” writes Kaiser. There

Some doctors have suggested that a blood smear should be used to confirm the diagnosis of BMD. But as Telford and colleagues demonstrate, a blood smear may not be so reliable. [1] In an effort to determine whether blood smears can detect B. miyamotoi in the blood of acute BMD patients, researchers examined sera from