Lyme Science Blog

The authors highlight the case of a 23-year-old woman who presented to their hospital “with a chief complaint of dyspnea and chest pain and was found to have a third degree AV-block on the electrocardiogram (ECG)” in their discussion of Lyme carditis symptoms. A temporary pacemaker was implanted. And after an exhaustive work-up for other […]

I can’t trust single-dose doxycycline to prevent Lyme disease. A perspective: A single 200 mg dose of doxycycline administered orally was reported to have been successfully used to prevent the development of erythema migrans at the bite site of Ixodes scapularis ticks,” writes Wormser in an article entitled “Doxycycline for Prevention of Spirochetal Infections-Status Report.”

Understanding how ticks move is important in developing ways to minimize our risk of tick bites and infection. As the authors point out, “less is known about the distances adult ticks are willing and able to travel in the short term and when a host is in close proximity.” The study looked at how adult

The retrospective review included 93 children with idiopathic Bell’s palsy to the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust from 2010 to 2017. Idiopathic facial nerve palsy, formerly called Bell’s palsy, is seen in early Lyme disease. Very few children in the study with Bell’s palsy reported a tick bite or rash. In fact, only 14%

The clinic’s program to over Lyme disease treatment and its effectiveness are described in a recent article by Portman, “Implementing a pharmacist-run Lyme disease postexposure prophylaxis clinic augmented by academic detailing within the Veterans Health Administration.”¹ In April 2018, VA Butler Healthcare in Pennsylvania opened a pharmacist-run Lyme disease PEP clinic, known as PharmLD clinic.

The Canadian authors point out that in their country alone the number of Lyme disease cases has increased 14-fold over an 8 year period (2009-2017). They reviewed studies published between 1994 and 2019 to assess the extent of long-term sequelae due to Lyme disease. Based on eligibility criteria, 21 studies were included in the analysis,

“Many physicians will mistakenly defer to the CDC’s Lyme disease case definition in making a diagnosis. These clinicians require that patients meet this strict and narrow criteria in order to be diagnosed with the disease.” [2] “However, this definition was designed as a surveillance monitoring tool to track the number of Lyme disease cases throughout

It can be difficult to find a Lyme doctor who treats patients who do not live in an endemic area or have a history of a tick bite. It can also be difficult to find a doctor when a person presents with non-specific manifestations of Lyme disease, which may include: Neuropsychiatric Lyme disease [1] Pediatric

Shor and colleagues identified a broad range of symptoms, signs, and conditions present in acute and chronic Lyme disease patients regardless of whether or not they received treatment.All of the cases referenced by the International Lyme and Associated Diseases Society (ILADS) working group had been diagnosed with Lyme disease based upon direct laboratory evidence of

The number of tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease, has been steadily rising in the South as tick populations expand into new territories. One study reports, “The trends in these data paint a clear picture of southward expansion of Lyme disease.” As a result, communities once considered non-endemic for Lyme disease will be at risk, including