Lyme Science Blog

How Fast Can a Tick Transmit Babesia? Why There Is No Safe Window How quickly can a tick transmit Babesia? In some cases, transmission can occur almost immediately after the tick begins feeding. Key Insight: Unlike Lyme disease, Babesia may be transmitted without a delay—there is no reliable “grace period” after a tick bite. Many […]

Atypical case of Lyme carditis in Florida woman A 42-year-old New York City man quarantining upstate during COVID-19 developed Lyme carditis that progressed to cardiac arrest within two weeks of tick bite. The case demonstrates how rapidly Lyme carditis can deteriorate when diagnosis is delayed – and how completely patients recover when treatment finally begins.

Lyme Arthritis After Knee Replacement: A Case of Periprosthetic Joint Infection Lyme arthritis can cause knee swelling and fluid buildup that mimics prosthetic joint infection following knee replacement—an uncommon but important clinical scenario. This case illustrates how Lyme arthritis can present in unexpected ways, particularly after joint replacement. For a full overview of Lyme arthritis,

Lone Star Tick Bites: Woman Finds 30 Ticks After Walk in Park MULTIPLE TICK BITES AFTER A WALK? COULD IT BE LONE STAR TICKS? What happens when someone is exposed to multiple lone star tick bites? Quick Answer: Lone star tick bites can cause rashes, fatigue, headaches, and may transmit several infections—including ehrlichiosis, tularemia, and

Case reports: Lyme disease infection causes carditis In their article, “Lyme-Associated Pericarditis: A Case Report and Literature Review,” Ameer and colleagues describe an 18-year-old man who developed pericarditis due to Lyme disease.1 The patient who had a medical history of asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and obsessive-compulsive disorder presented to the emergency department with complaints of

Autopsy reveals multiple Borrelia species in brain of man with chronic Lyme disease In their article, “Concurrent Infection of the Human Brain with Multiple Borrelia Species,” Golovchenko and colleagues describe the case involving a post-mortem brain autopsy on a man who suffered for more than 10 years with neurologic and psychiatric symptoms due to Lyme

Lyme disease or dementia? The authors describe a case in which an elderly man with dementia was referred to an Alzheimer’s Disease Care Unit but later tested positive for Lyme disease. The 75-year-old man reportedly had only mild memory loss but was admitted to the unit due to hallucinations, confusion and aggressive behavior. Two weeks

A unique presentation of Lyme disease rash In their study, “Atypical Lyme Disease Rash: A Case Report,” Khanna et al. describe the case of a 69-year-old woman, who tested negative for Lyme disease (according to CDC criteria), yet presented with an atypical Lyme rash. “Our patient only had one band positive on Western blot testing,

Muscle Weakness and Constipation—But Tests Are Normal? Quick Answer: Muscle weakness and constipation in Lyme disease may be caused by neurologic and autonomic nervous system dysfunction—even when imaging and gastrointestinal tests are normal. This is a classic Lyme disease pattern: real symptoms—but normal tests. Why this matters: When muscle weakness and constipation occur together, they

How does Lyme disease affect the brain? Marvel and colleagues administered working memory tests to 12 subjects with Post Treatment Lyme disease (PTLD) and 18 healthy controls while undergoing functional MRI (fMRI). Investigators aimed to determine, using multimodal neuroimaging methods, how Lyme disease may affect the brain. A fMRI looks at the function of the