Lyme Science Blog

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 […]

In the study “The Spectrum of Erythema Migrans in Early Lyme Disease: Can We Improve Its Recognition?,” investigators examined images of lesions from 69 participants, including 43 men and 26 women, suspected to have early Lyme disease.  The majority of participants (83%) presented with a single lesion.¹ The images were retrospectively evaluated by a dermatologist

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

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

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

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