Lyme Science Blog

So, what do we actually know about this potentially deadly virus? Symptoms are similar to those seen with other tick-borne illnesses. Patients may experience fever, headaches, joint and muscle aches, fatigue, loss of appetite, and diarrhea. Individuals with the virus have reported becoming ill about two weeks after being bitten by a tick. There is […]

“Despite being a top international tourist destination, few sources describe the spectrum of infectious diseases acquired among travellers to the USA,” writes Stoney in the Journal Travel Medicine. [1] Stoney, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and colleagues analyzed travel history and clinical diagnoses for non-US-resident travellers who visited GeoSentinel clinics between

An article by Nieto and colleagues, published in PLoS One, describes a study using citizen science to gather data on human exposure to ticks and tick-borne diseases. The study was conducted on a national scale between January 2016 and August 2017. “This study offers a unique and valuable perspective because it looks at risk to

Borrelia miyamotoi, the bacteria which causes relapsing fever, is one of the latest threats. The disease was first reported in the United States in 2013 but has become increasingly more common. B. miyamotoi is carried by black-legged ticks, the same ticks that can transmit Lyme disease. One study found that 2% of nymphal ticks collected in

In their report, the authors describe a 69-year-old man who was admitted to the emergency room in New York City complaining of a headache and double vision. One month earlier, the man had been hiking in a rural area of New York. He did not notice a tick bite or rash. Two weeks later, he

According to investigators from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), larval ticks can already be infected with Borrelia miyamotoi, after they hatch from the eggs. [1] This occurs through a process called transovarially transmission in which the adult tick transmits the B. miyamotoi bacteria to its offspring by infecting the eggs in its

The authors of a recent study published in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases examined the pathogens in 1,240 host-seeking Ixodes scapularis (black-legged) nymphal ticks from Minnesota. They identified seven infectious agents including Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (bacteria causing Lyme disease), Borrelia mayonii, Borrelia miyamotoi, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Ehrlichia muris eauclairensis, Babesia microti (protozoan) and Powassan (virus). B.

“We present the case of a 75-year-old, Northeast suburban resident [of New York] complaining of unstable gait, high fevers, malaise, myalgia, and confusion,” writes Lamichhane in the journal Hindawi, Case Reports in Infectious Diseases. [1] The man had not travelled outside the area and only reported taking walks in the local park. He did not

In 2015, Lantos and colleagues described cases of Lyme disease occurring in Tennessee. [2] Their study, Geographic Expansion of Lyme Disease in the Southeastern United States, 2000-2014, reported human Lyme disease cases had expanded south, stretching along the eastern foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in nearby Virginia. Lantos also found infected deer ticks 100km away in

The clinical presentation was consistent with DM. “A 76-year-old female presented with fatigue, malaise, weight loss and progressive proximal muscle weakness after a flare-up of shoulder arthritis,” writes Novitch, a medical student at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The physical findings were consistent with DM. “She had a heliotrope rash and a ‘Shawl sign,’ in